Drug and Alcohol Review
September 15, 2011
Stuart A. Kinner, Jessica George, Jennifer M. Johnston et al.
19 citations
INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: A significant proportion of young Australians engage in risky alcohol consumption, and an increasing minority are regular ecstasy (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) users. Risky alcohol use, alone or in combination with ecstasy, is associated with a range of acute and chronic health risks. The aim of this study was to document the incidence and some health-related...
Drug and Alcohol Dependence
February 1, 2010
Louisa Degenhardt, R. Bruno, Libby Topp
This paper examines the evidence for an MDMA or "ecstasy" dependence syndrome. Animal evidence suggests that MDMA may be a less potent reinforcer than other drugs, but that it does have dependence potential. This suggests that (a) ecstasy dependence might be less likely than dependence upon other drugs; and (b) factors related to the behavioural and psychological aspects of reward and...
PLoS Medicine
September 28, 2009
Louisa Degenhardt, Wayne Hall, Michael T. Lynskey et al.
48 citations
N Comparative risk assessments estimate the proportion of a disease that can be attributed to a particular risk exposure and are important guides for health planning.N In observational studies, there has been consistent evidence that cannabis use is associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia and more generally, psychosis.N There is debate about whether such observational evidence is...
Neuropsychobiology
2009
Raimondo Bruno, Allison J Matthews, Libby Topp et al.
Although use of 'ecstasy' (drugs sold as containing 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) is prevalent, it is typically infrequent, and treatment presentations involving ecstasy as a principal problem drug are relatively rare. Human case reports and animal literature suggest dependence potential, although there may be some unique aspects to this syndrome for ecstasy in comparison to other...
World Psychiatry
2008
Wayne Hall, Louisa Degenhardt
WE BRIEFLY REVIEW THE EVIDENCE THAT CANNABIS USE IN ADOLESCENCE AND YOUNG ADULTHOOD IS A CONTRIBUTORY CAUSE OF SCHIZOPHRENIFORM PSYCHOSES, BY SUMMARISING LONGITUDINAL STUDIES THAT: a) have examined relationships between cannabis use and the risk of psychosis or psychotic symptoms; and b) have controlled for potential confounders, such as other forms of drug use and personal characteristics that...
Psychological Medicine
July 1, 2007
Louisa Degenhardt, Chris Tennant, Stuart Gilmour et al.
The aim was to examine the temporal relationships over 10 months between cannabis use and symptoms of psychosis and depression in people with schizophrenia and related disorders. The design was a prospective study of 101 patients with schizophrenia and related disorders who were assessed monthly over 10 months on medication compliance, cannabis and other drug use, symptoms of depression and...
Addiction
March 12, 2007
James Christopher Anthony, Louisa Degenhardt
4 citations
In this issue, Hickman and colleagues [1] present estimates from a simulation exercise to project the impact of cannabis use upon the future incidence of schizophrenia in England and Wales. The projections are based upon an assumption (which the authors disclose) that cannabis smoking causes newly incident cases of schizophrenia that would never appear in the absence of cannabis smoking. It is...
The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry
August 1, 2006
Wayne Hall, Louisa Degenhardt
Objective: To explore the implications for mental health services, for health education about the risks of cannabis use, and for public policy toward cannabis use of observational evidence that cannabis use is a contributory cause of psychosis. Method: Using comparative analyses of similar evidence for the harmful effects of alcohol, tobacco, and amphetamine use, we considered the relation...
The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry
August 1, 2006
Louisa Degenhardt, Wayne Hall
Objective: To assess whether cannabis use in adolescence and young adulthood is a contributory cause of schizophreniform psychosis in that it may precipitate psychosis in vulnerable individuals. Method: We reviewed longitudinal studies of adolescents and young adults that examined the relations between self-reported cannabis use and the risk of diagnosis with a psychosis or of reporting...
Drug and Alcohol Review
November 30, 2004
Wayne Hall, Louisa Degenhardt, Maree Teesson
105 citations
This paper evaluates three hypotheses about the relationship between cannabis use and psychosis in the light of recent evidence from prospective epidemiological studies. These are that: (1) cannabis use causes a psychotic disorder that would not have occurred in the absence of cannabis use; (2) that cannabis use may precipitate schizophrenia or exacerbate its symptoms; and (3) that cannabis use...
Cambridge University Press eBooks
May 27, 2004
Wayne Hall, Louisa Degenhardt
27 citations
There are good reasons to be concerned about the possibility that cannabis use may be a cause of psychotic disorders. Psychoses are serious and disabling disorders (Bromet et al. , 1995). Cannabis is widely used during late adolescence in many developed societies (Hall et al. , 1999), and high doses of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – the psychoactive substance in cannabis – have been reported to...
Psychological Medicine
December 23, 2002
Louisa Degenhardt
34 citations
The issue of whether an association exists between cannabis and psychosis exists, and why, has received considerable attention in recent years (Hall, 1998; Mueser et al. 1998; Blanchard et al. 2000; Degenhardt & Hall, 2002). There are probably a number of reasons for the sustained interest. First, psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia are often chronic or recurring (Mason et al. 1996), are...