Cannabis is associated with psychosis (a symptom) and schizophrenia (an illness where this symptom is persistent) in complex, contradictory and mysterious ways. The evidence does demonstrate various links that we all should all be aware of, especially cannabis users and parents. However, the evidence does not support anything like the level of fear propagated in the media.

Ten years ago this week, Colorado voters approved Amendment 64, making the state among the first two in the nation (along with Washington) to legalize the use and possession of cannabis, a.k.a. marijuana, for recreational purposes. Today, the once-underground endeavor is a $2 billion per year industry in Colorado, and research on its chemical makeup, health benefits and risks is flourishing at institutions around the country. "Before, research focused almost exclusively on the harms because it was only thought of as an illegal substance," said Angela Bryan, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at CU Boulder whose team studies the health impacts of cannabis. "Now we can focus on the full continuum."

That cannabis and schizophrenia are linked is widely accepted. Several studies suggest the drug can set off short-term psychotic episodes in those already suffering from the condition. Other research, though, does more than this. It shows that people with schizophrenia are twice as likely as others to use cannabis. This leads some to argue that the drug is actually a cause of schizophrenia rather than just a trigger—a line of evidence sometimes employed by those who wish to keep it illegal.

Learn how lessening the barriers for small farmers while raising them for large companies can help to steer legal cannabis markets in a more sustainable and equitable direction based on principles of community empowerment, social justice, fair(er) trade and sustainable development.

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Algo está pasando en las Américas, algo que hace que los gobernantes estén asumiendo la derrota de la estrategia de prohibicionismo a las drogas y den rienda a la regulación del mercado de la marihuana. "La prohibición le hace daño a la humanidad, porque el mercado de drogas ya existe, solo que clandestino y regulado por el crimen organizado. Es un mercado que se paga con vidas y llegó la hora de que sean los Estados quienes establezcan las normas del juego". Así comienza cada una de sus presentaciones públicas Daniel Radío, secretario de la Junta Nacional de Drogas, compartiendo los resultados del llamado "experimento uruguayo".Y al parecer su pensamiento está siendo acompañado por políticos del continente – por lo general progresistas o liberales – en una cruzada que los analistas llamada "cambio de paradigma".

Berlin's public transport company (BVG) has come up with a way for passengers in the German capital to unwind from the stress of Christmas and COVID. BVG is offering customers the chance to buy day tickets impregnated with hemp oil, which it promises will have a "calming effect" when they are eaten. The tickets, which cost € 8.80 ($ 9.95) each, are made from edible paper and are sprinkled with "no more than three drops" of hemp oil. BVG says the oil was obtained from the seed of the cannabis plant. Unlike the flowers, this contains none of the intoxicating substances such as THC. As a result, the operator says, the oil on the tickets — which are valid for 24 hours — is "completely harmless to health" and "completely legal."

Brain scans have revealed for the first time how a substance found in cannabis plants may help people with psychotic disorders by dampening down abnormal brain activity that arises in the patients. A single dose of cannabidiol, an non-intoxicating extract of the plant, reduced unusual patterns of neural behaviour linked to hallucinations, delusions, and other symptoms of psychosis, researchers found. The impact of the substance has raised hopes that medical preparations of pure cannabidiol, or new drugs based on the compound, may be turned into effective treatments for young people who develop psychosis but do not respond to existing therapies.

Brazil's National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) approved the registration of the first cannabis-based product in the country. Cannabidiol oil may be sold in pharmacies only with a special prescription provided by local health surveillance. This is the first registration granted by the agency since the agency approved a regulation that opens space for the sale of cannabis-based products in these locations, based on some criteria. The agency created a new category of plant-based products, different from the one used for medicines. The product is a phytopharmaceutical based on cannabidiol. This component of cannabis has a therapeutic effect on some conditions. (See also: Brazil approves first medical cannabis product under 2019 regulations)

After Brazil’s health authority shelved a proposal on domestic cannabis cultivation, a court decided in the opposite direction, allowing – for the first time in Brazil – a company to grow hemp commercially. The court’s decision could spur other cannabis companies to appeal to the judicial system for permission to cultivate domestically. The ruling of the Federal Court of the Federal District authorized Schoenmaker Humanko, part of the Terra Viva group – a large Brazilian floricultural company – to import hempseeds of varieties with less than 0.3% THC to grow in Brazil. In his decision, the judge allowed the company to “sell the seeds, leaves and fibers exclusively for industrial purposes, including as inputs,” under supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture and ANVISA, the Brazilian National Sanitary Surveillance Agency.

An estimated 1.3 million people in the UK regularly use CBD for a variety of health and wellness reasons – but ingestible CBD products occupy a hazy legal area, characterised by unclear enforcement, restrictive drug laws and over-exuberant marketing claims. This has led to a booming, but not-quite-fully-legal, consumer market. Having until now stood idly by as the CBD craze swept the country, the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA) has unveiled new plans to better regulate the cannabidiol industry and issue new safety advice for consumers. Under the FSA's new rules, CBD companies have until the end of March, 2021 to submit a product safety dossier to the regulators, or else be pulled from the shelves.

Over the past year, you may have seen something called delta-8 THC or “delta 8” appear in convenience stores and pharmacies alongside CBD gummies, oils and lotions. Delta-8 THC is a hemp-derived compound that’s closely related to delta-9 THC – what’s commonly called THC and is the psychoactive component of cannabis that’s responsible for the high that users feel. Like garden variety marijuana, delta-8 THC can be vaped or eaten. However, it’s rarely smoked. Anecdotally, its fans swear by its benefits – that it helps with relaxation and pain relief without intense highs that can veer into anxiety or paranoia.

There is a growing body of evidence to support the use of medical cannabis as an adjunct to or substitute for prescription opiates in the treatment of chronic pain. When used in conjunction with opiates, cannabinoids lead to a greater cumulative relief of pain, resulting in a reduction in the use of opiates (and associated side-effects) by patients in a clinical setting. Additionally, cannabinoids can prevent the development of tolerance to and withdrawal from opiates, and can even rekindle opiate analgesia after a prior dosage has become ineffective.

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Even the word “dope”, describing people that use cannabis, suggests they have less than optimal brain functioning. The idea that cannabis impairs memory has been around so long it’s almost accepted as fact. The science exploring the relationship between cannabis and memory is now revealing a far more interesting understanding of the connection. There is evidence of disruption to short-term memory and concentration during intoxication with cannabis. Both are responsible for the poorer educational outcomes in adolescents who were observed in research. But this isn’t the whole story. Recent research has found that compounds found in cannabis can delay the onset of problems like dementia and Alzheimer’s.

For people who are addicted to cannabis, one treatment option may be, paradoxically, to take pills containing an extract of cannabis. The first test of the idea has found that people taking capsules of this extract, known as cannabidiol or CBD, nearly halved the amount of cannabis they smoked, according to results presented at New Scientist Live this week. Cannabis is usually seen as a soft drug, but some users – about 1 in 10 by one estimate – become addicted, getting withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety and insomnia when they try to stop. The number of people seeking treatment because they can’t quit smoking cannabis has been rising in the past decade, linked with a use of the more potent form known as skunk, said Val Curran of University College London at the event.

Cannabidiol, which is an active substance in cannabis, helps relieve the symptoms of schizophrenia by helping to normalize brain metabolism. Schizophrenia is a severe and disabling brain disorder. Professor Markus Leweke, a medical doctor at the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany, describes the potential benefits of medical cannabis and pharmacological treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders, with a focus on cannabinoids.

An ingredient in cannabis called cannabidiol or CBD has shown promise in a clinical trial as a potential new treatment for psychosis, scientists said. Scientists conducted a small trial of people with psychosis and found patients treated with CBD had lower levels of psychotic symptoms than those who received a placebo. Psychosis is characterized by paranoia and hallucinations. The study found that they were also more likely to be rated as “improved” by their psychiatrist and there were signs of better cognitive performance and functioning. (See also: An ingredient in cannabis may be useful for treating psychosis – new study)

A leading drugs policy expert believes members of Malta’s planned cannabis associations should be allowed to consume cannabis on site rather than being restricted to only doing so at home. “It was an issue that came up in several of our meetings these past two days, and the social role of associations should be promoted as going beyond a place where members get cannabis to take home,” said Martin Jelsma, Programme Director for Drugs and Democracy at the Netherlands-based Transnational Institute. As it stands, the law will not allow members to smoke cannabis on the premises of planned cannabis associations. Jelsma also had strong words of criticism for Maltese authorities' handling of CBD cannabis flow, branding it "absurd".

The cannabis business has arrived at a critical moment. Now that pot has become something like a regular consumer product, customers are increasingly seeking the same “proven consistency” they expect from potato chips. The financial stakes are clear: Despite lingering prohibitions in 17 states, legal cannabis is already an $8 billion industry in the United States. Domestic sales of alcohol topped $200 billion last year. But to make cannabis as popular as booze requires solving that original problem: It’s hard to imagine millions of people becoming new recreational users without being able to promise them that the product they’re spending money on will give them the effect they want. (See also: Cannabis researchers want to take the mystery out of weed. Here's why that's a mistake)

France’s highest administrative court, the Conseil d’Etat, has temporarily overturned a ban on the sale of cannabidiol (CBD) flowers and leaves in France, less than a month after it was introduced by the government. This is just the latest stage in France’s convoluted history with cannabis. A ministerial order had banned the sale of hemp flower and leaf loaded with CBD, from December 31st 2021 – but the Conseil d’Etat has provisionally overruled that decision, pending further examination of the order. Following the Conseil’s decision, the only requirement is that the finished CBD product must have a THC content of 0. As with leaves and flowers, the sale of these products is prohibited to minors.

La demanda europea ha convertido Catalunya en un territorio productor y exportador de marihuana para consumo recreativo. Toni Rodríguez, jefe de la División de Investigación Criminal (DIC) de los Mossos d’Esquadra, describe que en ocho años Catalunya ha cambiado "radicalmente". "Han venido mafiosos de origen diverso – serbios, chinos, irlandeses, italianos… – que han desplazado a los cultivadores locales y más pequeños – que, a pesar de la presión, persisten – y funcionan como entramados potentes que invierten mucho dinero y protegen – con armas de fuego si es necesario– su rendimiento". (Véase también: Liberadas seis víctimas de trata de seres humanos obligadas al cultivo al por mayor de marihuana)