The rise of high-potency cannabis products is drawing warnings from mental health experts, who say the risks to psychiatric health are significant and not well understood by the public, according to a report by Fox News.
The concern centers on products with elevated concentrations of THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis. As the legal cannabis market has expanded across the United States, the potency of available products has increased substantially compared to what was available decades ago.
Experts warn that high-THC products are linked to a greater risk of psychosis, a serious mental health condition in which a person loses touch with reality. The risk appears to be higher for young people, whose brains are still developing, and for individuals who use cannabis frequently or who have a personal or family history of psychiatric illness.
The connection between cannabis and psychosis has been documented in research for years, but the issue has become more pressing as legal markets have made high-potency products more accessible. Concentrates, edibles, and vaping products can carry THC levels far above what is found in the cannabis plant in its natural form.
Mental health professionals have expressed concern that public perception of cannabis as a low-risk substance does not match the evidence around high-potency products. The expansion of legal markets has in some cases been accompanied by marketing that does not emphasize potential mental health risks.
The Fox News report did not specify a particular study or institution behind the warnings, but the expert cited called for greater public awareness about the distinction between lower-potency cannabis and the concentrated products now widely available in legal dispensaries.
Regulators in several states have begun discussing whether to cap THC levels in commercial cannabis products, though no federal standard currently exists.
