Marketing & Marijuana: Why Responsibility Is So Important As Psychosis & Schizophrenia Among Youth Rise

Several recent studies have found a link between cannabis use and mental conditions such as psychosis and schizophrenia.

A study published in the World Journal of Biological Psychiatry suggested that marijuana use increases the risk for a myriad of conditions ranging from transient psychotic states to chronic recurrent psychosis. For those who consume cannabis daily, the risk of developing chronic psychosis is up to six times higher, as the results suggested.

A study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology found some links between teen cannabis use and schizophrenia, regardless of whether they used it frequently or infrequently.

The Case Of The Napa Teen

Elizabeth Kirkaldie told KQED that her grandson went from being at the top of his class in high school and a promising jazz bassist to being paranoid and even psychotic after using marijuana for some time.

“The drug use activated the psychosis, is what I really think,” she said, now that her grandson is diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Some even believe that cannabis accelerates violent actions. Last week, on Fox's “The Ingraham Angle,” NRA supporter Laura Ingraham initiated the conversation around a supposed link between the legalization of cannabis and recent mass shootings.  

Lawmakers & Doctors Ask For More Caution

While studies with opposing conclusions on marijuana’s safety and uses continue to arise, some are advocating for more caution.

In California, both doctors and lawmakers are urging cannabis producers to include warnings related to health risks on their package labels, as well as in advertising.

Moreover, they want to see health brochures that outline the risks of cannabis use among youth, drivers and pregnant women, to be distributed to those who are about to consume marijuana for the first time.

“Today's turbocharged products are turbocharging the harms associated with cannabis,” said Dr. Lynn Silver with the Public Health Institute, which sponsors the proposed labeling legislation, SB 1097, the Cannabis Right to Know Act.

The bill would establish a new warning label requirement on all marijuana products starting January 2025. The label would need to cover “1/3 of the front or principal face of a product … in the largest type possible for the area.” The state would provide several warnings to be rotated among batches of products.

However, cannabis producers in the Golden State say that the bill is making things even harder for them, in view of their retail troubles and high taxes.

Last month, the California Cannabis Industry Association (CCIA) issued a call to action, highlighting that the “bill would add duplicative labeling requirements to cannabis products that will do very little to protect public health or underlying audience, but will instead unfairly penalize legal operators who already comply with stringent labeling and childproof packaging requirements.”

The problem, according to Dr. Deepak Cyril D’Souza, a psychiatry professor at Yale's School of Medicine is not the legalization of the plant, but its commercialization, with heavy marketing geared toward the younger population.

The Growing Issue Of Labeling Mistakes

While New York seems to be a step ahead of California as its Cannabis Control Board recently approved new regulations on the packaging and labeling of marijuana products, mislabeling of cannabis products has been persisting as an issue for years.

In 2020, Leafreport’s study showed that only 25% of CBD edibles contain the labeled amount of CBD. A year later, the Israel-based CBD reviewer found that over half of 29 hemp tea and coffee products that underwent an analysis showed that in the U.S. CBD levels varied widely from what was stated on the label.

Curaleaf’s Mislabeling Debacle

To put things in the perspective, cannabis giant Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. CURLF is currently facing a lawsuit for allegedly engaging in unlawful trade practices, gross negligence, and “utter lack of reasonable and adequate safety and protocols when it manufactured, bottled, labeled, shipped, and sold its tainted products. …”

Last year, Oregon regulators recalled 1,000mg of unflavored CBD drops sold under the Select brand which is owned by Curaleaf. The products in question were labeled as “Broad Spectrum,” but in fact contained THC. The brand’s 1,000-mg bottles of unflavored, Select THC Tincture were recalled for not containing THC.

Oregon regulators proposed a 70-day suspension and a $200,000 fine for Curaleaf, however, the 13-page lawsuit that was filed last month in the U.S. District Court in Portland by a 77-yar-old man is asking for class-action status and $200 apiece for the several hundred consumers who purchased CBD wellness drops in Oregon over the past year.

Photo: Courtesy of Headway on Unsplash