Citation

Potvin S, Khazaal Y, Benyamina A, Potenza MN. Front. Psychiatry 2023; 14: e1241229.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Frontiers Media)

DOI

10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1241229

PMID

37547207

PMCID

PMC10402892

Abstract

Considering the progressive legalization of cannabis across jurisdictions, we prepared a Research Topic that addresses significant issues relevant for future legalization initiatives. This Research Topic follows a first Research Topic on the same theme (https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/11986/purple-haze-issues-on-cannabis-legalization). The current Research Topic seeks to: (i) document the psychiatric and cognitive consequences of cannabis products, used either for recreational or medical purposes; (ii) document the impacts of cannabis legalization in North America, with special attention to youth, emergency department visits and sex/gender differences; (iii) provide a framework for medical cannabis administration; and (iv) define priority areas deserving more research.

Among the potential harms of cannabis, the association with psychosis is one of the issues that has received the most attention in the context of recreational cannabis legalization. As Hall points out, the nature of this association is too often judged by the authors' preconceptions about the merits of recreational marijuana legalization (RML), with opponents of RML being prone to assert the causal nature of the association, and supporters being inclined to deny it. In his article, Hall shows that the literature is sufficiently robust to support a causal interpretation of the association between cannabis and psychosis. With nuance, he argues that one can nonetheless be in favor of RML, as taking a stance on such a policy requires considering all its advantages and disadvantages, and that presumed advantages (example: reducing the share of the illegal market, increasing potential access to prevention) may outweigh its disadvantages...

Language: en

Keywords

public health; cannabis; policy; legalization; harm reduction