@article{ref1,
title="Substance use disorders and psychoactive drug poisoning in medically authorized cannabis patients: longitudinal cohort study",
journal="Canadian journal of psychiatry, The",
year="2021",
author="Zongo, Arsène and Lee, Cerina and El-Mourad, Jihane and Dyck, Jason R. B. and Hyshka, Elaine and Hanlon, John G. and Eurich, Dean T.",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="OBJECTIVES: Poisoning from psychoactive drugs and substance use disorders (SUD) have been reported among non-medical cannabis users. However, little is known about medical cannabis users and their risk for poisoning and/or development of SUD. This study assessed the risk of emergency department (ED) visits or hospitalization for 1) poisoning by psychoactive drugs and 2) mental/behavioural disorders due to the use of psychoactive drugs and other substances, in medically authorized cannabis patients in Ontario, Canada from 2014-2017. <br><br>METHODS: A cohort study of adult patients authorized for medical cannabis that were matched to population-based controls. ED visit/hospitalization were assessed with a main diagnostic code for: 1) poisoning by psychoactive drugs; 2) mental and behavioural disorder due to psychoactive drugs or other substance use. Conditional Cox proportional hazards regressions were conducted. <br><br>RESULTS: 18,653 cannabis patients were matched to 51,243 controls. During a median follow-up of 243 days, the incidence rate for poisoning was 4.71 per 1,000 person-years (95%CI: 3.71-5.99) for cases and 1.73 per 1,000 person-years (95% CI: 1.36-2.19) for controls. The adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) was 2.45 (95%CI: 1.56-3.84). For mental/behavioural disorders, the incident rates were 8.89 (95% CI: 7.47-10.57) and 5.01 (95% CI: 4.36-5.76) in the cannabis and the controls group. The aHR was 2.27 (95%CI: 1.66-3.11). No difference was observed between males and females (P-value for interaction > 0.05). <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Our study observed a short-term increased risk of ED visit/hospitalization for poisoning or for mental/behavioural disorders (from use of psychoactive drugs and other substances)- in medically authorized cannabis patients.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0706-7437",
doi="10.1177/07067437211060597",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/07067437211060597"
}