More people are ending up in hospital after using cannabis than a decade ago, and psychosis rates are rising. Here’s what can explain the rise.

This study looked at almost 40,000 cannabis-related hospital admissions in Victoria between 2013 and 2023.

Admissions peaked during the COVID pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Cannabis-related psychosis was the main driver across the decade, accounting for 40.1% of hospitalisations where cannabis was the main reason. Poisoning made up less than 12% of cases.

These weren’t quick visits. Most patients (68%) stayed in hospital for longer than 24 hours, with the average stay lasting a week for all cases involving cannabis. This suggests these cases were serious. More than 1,500 people required admission to an intensive care unit (ICU).

Males aged 15–24 still represent the largest total group hospitalised. But our study showed the largest increase over the decade was in younger women and adults aged 65 and older.

…some studies suggest other states have higher rates of cannabis use.

Nationally, cannabis remains one of the top illicit drugs leading to a hospital admission, outpacing illicit opioids.

International data shows a similar trend. When legal access expands via profit-driven commercial models, cannabis-related psychosis hospitalisations tend to rise.

Our findings that the largest increase in cannabis-related hospitalisations was in younger women and older adults has wider implications.

Public health initiatives don’t necessarily focus on these groups.

  • arbilp3@aussie.zoneOPEnglish
    0·
    2 days ago

    What really stood out for me in the article is that there’s higher potency stuff out there and some people are being sold it for therapeutic or other use without understanding how it may affect them.

    Anything we put in our body has an effect in/on the body, whether it’s plain water, salt, sugar, milk, bread, etc, or THC, or any chemical substance, natural or otherwise. We can die from drinking too much water or any of the other pretty neutral food substances. This doesn’t mean we should stop drinking water but we have to drink water in a way that helps our body and not harms it. We need to know the limits.

    Also, in this increasingly rabid capitalist system we are getting stuff pushed at us to make us supposedly more successful, or feel better in ourselves, but the pushers just want to make money because that makes them feel more successful and better in themselves without caring how far they go and by getting away with whatever they can get away with. We must not allow ourselves to be at the mercy of crooks or mentally compromised agents.