You go to a college party and are offered a blunt. You buy some edibles because it "gets you high." You download eaze so you can have weed delivered to wherever you are.

For those of you that are prescribed medical cannabis by a licensed physician, the risk-benefit analysis favors the drug use. For those of you introducing cannabis to your body for recreational purposes, do you really know what you are setting yourself up for?

The relationship between THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) – the chemical compound in cannabis culpable for the high – and psychiatric disorders has been largely investigated for a long time now. According to National Institute on Drug Abuse, cannabis is now the most common "illicit drug" (a drug that is misused and abused) and contrary to popular belief, it can lead to addiction. Recent studies have shed a new light on the association between THC and schizophrenia, specifically.

A study in 2017 investigated a mouse model with mutant Disrupted-in-Schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) gene. These mice have a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia, meaning that they have a higher likelihood of developing schizophrenia than those without it. The researchers assigned susceptible mice and normal mice into four groups: (1) normal mice with THC administration, (2) normal mice without THC administration, (3) susceptible mice with THC administration, and (4) susceptible mice without THC administration. THC was administered around the time the mice reached adolescence. The study found that the susceptible mice that were given THC exhibited deficiency in exploratory activity as well as memory involved in object recognition – schizophrenia-related characteristics.

Another mouse model with a mutation in Neuregulin 1 (NRG1) gene has also been suggested for research in schizophrenia. In a 2018 study, the results revealed that when THC was administered to mice with NRG1 mutation and mice without the mutation, those with the mutation exhibited less social interaction and reduced locomotion. Again, these features are similarly seen in those with schizophrenia.

The implications of the studies is that if you have a genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia or maybe if people in your family have psychiatric disorders, cannabis may lead to irreversible psychiatric effects.

Having said that, because the studies were done on mice, the results may not be directly applicable to us… But isn't it better to be safe than sorry?