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Cannabis and Mental Health

Key points

  • Cannabis use can cause disorientation and sometimes unpleasant thoughts or feelings of anxiety and paranoia.

Mental health

Cannabis use can cause disorientation and sometimes unpleasant thoughts or feelings of anxiety and paranoia.1

People who use cannabis are more likely to develop psychosis (not knowing what is real, hallucinations, and paranoia) and long-lasting mental disorders, including schizophrenia (a type of mental illness where people might hear or see things that are not really there).2 The association between cannabis and schizophrenia is stronger in people who start using cannabis at an earlier age and use cannabis more frequently.2

Cannabis use is also associated with depression; social anxiety; and thoughts of suicide, suicide attempts, and suicide.1

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Content Source:
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
  1. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The health effects of cannabis and cannabinoids: the current state of evidence and recommendations for research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2017. https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/24625/the-health-effects-of-cannabis-and-cannabinoids-the-current-state. Accessed February 8, 2024.
  2. Volkow ND, Swanson JM, Evins AE, et al. Effects of cannabis use on human behavior, including cognition, motivation, and psychosis: a review. JAMA Psychiatry. 2016;73(3):292-297. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2015.3278.