Massive Rise in Psychotic Disease Linked to Skunk

A new study by scientists at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London has said that a variety of cannabis called skunk may be the cause for the massive rise in psychotic disease in the country.

Psychotic illnesses like schizophrenia, paranoia and serious depression have shown an alarming rise in recent years and researchers found that skunk was seven times more likely to have been smoked than weaker varieties like cannabis or hash.

The study involved 280 people attending South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. They found that patients were twice as likely to have used cannabis over the past five years. In the group that used cannabis, patients were seven times more likely to have used skunk.

"Our study is the first to demonstrate that the risk of psychosis is much greater among people who are frequent cannabis users, especially among those using skunk, rather than occasional users of traditional hash," said researcher Dr Marta Di Forti.

The details of the study appear in the British Journal of Psychiatry.


Source-Medindia
RAS