California bill calls for cannabis warnings ahead of advances in mental health risk

Should cannabis products in California come with rare side effect warnings for people with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses, or are they fueling false or exaggerated beliefs about cannabis?

Senate Bill 1097, the Cannabis Right to Know Act, was introduced by Senator Richard Pan on February 16 and is sponsored by the Public Health Institute, a non-profit organization. It was changed in the Business and Occupations Committee on June 21 as support for the law gained momentum.

Some researchers say that in order for these types of negative reactions to occur, people must already be predisposed to a mental disorder like schizophrenia, while others disagree. Others say certain types of products shouldn’t be a big problem.

“Cal NORML agrees that consumers should be educated about the risks of psychotic reactions, particularly when associated with concentrates and high-THC dabs,” Dale Gieringer told the High Times. “Cyclic vomiting syndrome is another problem. However, we doubt whether warnings on the label are useful to inform them. Consumers are already weary from posting silly Prop. 65 warnings.”

Gieringer has been the state coordinator for NORML’s California branch since 1987, before the adult use regulations went into effect and increased safety efforts. Requiring warning labels like this on products like topicals and CBD products isn’t the answer, he says.

He continued, “We don’t think SB 1097 is the right answer. There’s no point putting these warnings on harmless products like topicals or high-CBD strains. Consumers were not consulted by the authors of SB 1097. We believe more research is needed to determine how best to educate consumers about the risks of excessive THC consumption.”

On June 30, Kaiser Health News profiled a case of a teenager who had had an adverse reaction to marijuana and was later revealed to have been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Liz Kirkaldie’s grandson did not have good experiences with cannabis, but he did suffer from schizophrenia. The pot seemed to reinforce delusions like hearing voices. “They wanted to kill him and people came to eat his brain. Strange, strange stuff,” Kirkaldie said. “I woke up one morning and Kory was nowhere. Well, it turns out he was walking down Villa Lane completely naked here.”

“The drug use triggered the psychosis, I really think so,” she said.

Search and find, and there are many peer-reviewed studies showing the negative effects of cannabis use. According to a study published in The Lancet Psychiatry on March 19, 2019, the focus is on high-potency weed, and the risk is more than four times greater for people who use high-potency weed on a daily basis than for those who have never smoked . But often these risks are inflated disproportionately.

Scaremongers have bet on studies like this, such as Alex Berenson, author of Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence — who has been permanently banned from Twitter for guessing it, spreading misinformation. The way arguments are presented makes it appear that schizophrenia is widespread.

But what are other researchers saying about the link between schizophrenia and marijuana?

Other researchers say drugs, nicotine, and other non-pot factors confound the results of studies looking for a real correlation between pot and schizophrenia or other mental disorders.

A 2014 study led by Ashley C. Proal and Dr. Lynn E. DeLisi of Harvard Medical School recruited weed smokers with and without a family history of schizophrenia, and non-smokers with and without such a history. But this time, the marijuana users weren’t using any other drugs, so they could rule those factors out. What they did find was an increased risk of schizophrenia in people with a family history, regardless of cannabis use.

“My study clearly shows that cannabis does not in itself cause schizophrenia,” said Dr. DeLisi 2019 of the New York Times. “Rather, a genetic predisposition is necessary. Based on the results of this and other studies, it is highly likely that cannabis use during adolescence to age 25, when the brain matures and peaks in a genetically susceptible individual, can trigger the onset of schizophrenia.”

Other experts supported Dr. DeLisi’s suspicion that warnings about schizophrenia might be a little overblown. “Usually it’s the research types that do the ‘sky is falling’ part, but here it’s reversed,” said Dr. Jay Geidd, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego. “Researchers are wary of exaggerating the dangers, as has clearly been the case in the past. However, clinicians overwhelmingly agree that they are seeing many more young people with ‘paranoia’.”

SB 1097 now goes to an Appropriations Committee sent on June 22nd for another reading.