Achi news desk-
Two young people diagnosed with cannabis-induced psychosis are backing an expert panel’s recommendation that Health Canada establish a standard dose for cannabis, saying it would help encourage safer consumption.
In a report released last week, the panel convened by the federal government to study legislation legalizing cannabis in 2018 made 54 recommendations, including increasing the excise tax on high-strength cannabis, reviewing packaging and labeling rules and introduce other measures to mitigate health risks for young people.
Cannabis-induced psychosis is of particular concern as the concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which causes a euphoric high, has increased in recent years and could affect adolescent brain development, noted the experts who called for labels ” total THC” and standard doses. to be listed on cannabis product packaging.
The panel said a standard dose would set out how much cannabis should be considered a single serving and help consumers make better choices.
Kalpit Sharma of Aurora, Ont., and Heath D’Alessio of Montreal, both 24, had different paths to using cannabis but were each diagnosed with psychosis due to heavy use of the drug.
While Sharma was tormented by voices, and even hallucinatory warnings that his family would die, D’Alessio saw distorted faces and at one point could not recognize people.
A standard cannabis dose would help people make informed and safe choices, Sharma said, adding that it is important for users to be aware that people can react differently to a given amount of THC so they should start with the lowest possible dose.
He said he started smoking cannabis in India, a year before moving to Canada in 2018 as the drug was legalised.
“At 19, I started buying weed in dispensaries. And slowly, my mind was the more THC I smoked the better high I was going to get,” said Sharma.
About a year later, he began hearing voices that interfered with his studies in psychology at Toronto’s York University. Before long, the hallucinations came with frightening warnings about his family.
“I would feel this constant fear that my family was going to die, that someone was going to get them, that I had done something wrong, that I was the root cause. the delusions and the paranoia, on top of the voices, just make it very difficult to survive.”
After Sharma ended up in hospital and was diagnosed with cannabis-induced psychosis at age 21, he said he stopped using pot but still heard voices. He also learned that a cousin was experiencing similar mental health problems, unrelated to drug use.
Sharma got help through the Center for Addiction and Mental Health and continues to take medication. He has wondered if the cannabis had caused his mental health condition at a younger age than he would have otherwise been diagnosed with.
“If you have a family history of psychosis I would say to consult a medical professional before consuming cannabis,” said Sharma, a volunteer counselor on cannabis and psychosis with the Canadian Schizophrenia Association.
D’Alessio said they started using cannabis at the age of 14 as a way to socialize with peers and to deal with anxiety and depression that started about a year earlier.
“I was a pretty daily cannabis user and was openly known as a stoner in high school,” D’Alessio said, adding that they quit “cold turkey” soon after facial hallucinations “less human” to begin with. They were diagnosed with cannabis-induced psychosis at the age of 17.
D’Alessio, who is also an advisor with the Canadian Schizophrenia Association’s cannabis and mental health project, said it’s important to list a standard dosage on cannabis products so people can be aware of how their use could affect them.
“Ten milligrams of THC in an edible will affect you much differently than 10 milligrams you smoke, but I think that’s where labels need more than just a standard dose,” they said. “We need more satisfactory drug education for the general public as well as for young people in particular.”
Education is especially needed if young people can be getting cannabis through the unregulated market, D’Alessio said. In Quebec, the legal age to buy pot is 21. Users in the rest of the country can buy it at age 19, except in Alberta, where the legal age is 18.
The expert panel, which includes a clinical psychologist who studies the impact of substance use on the developing brain of young people as well as cannabis-induced psychosis, said in an email via Health Canada that the establishment of similar units for different classes product is complex, and there are big differences between how cannabis can be consumed, metabolized and tested.
“Despite the complexity, the panel feels it is important to give consumers simple, easy-to-understand information about the level of intoxication they can expect from using a cannabis product,” he said.
Health Canada said it is reviewing the panel’s recommendations.
Mental health issues have long been associated with heavy use of cannabis, and the latest Canadian study to make that connection was published in February in the Lancet eClinical Medicine open access journal.
It analyzed health data from 12 million Ontarians between 2008 and March 2019 and found that while people of all ages who had a cannabis-related emergency room visit were at increased risk of developing new anxiety disorders, the risk was particularly high for males up to. 24 years old.
Although Health Canada said in its email that a standard dose for cannabis would be similar to a standard drink for alcohol, the federal and provincial governments have not acted on the January 2023 recommendations for mandatory labeling of alcohol containers issued by Canadian Center on Substance Use. and Addiction.
The center called for labels to indicate the number of standard drinks per container, based on the concentration of alcohol in a drink, as part of its latest guidance on alcohol use which recommends limiting consumption to two drinks a week.
The guidelines on the Health Canada website continue to list limits of two standard drinks a day for women and three drinks for men, based on recommendations from 2011.
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on March 25, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage is supported by a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
