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Marijuana Use and its Connection to Mental Health: What Are We Learning?

In-Person
1.5 CE Hour

Presented By

Dates and Times

  • -
    In-Person

Location

  • Pacific B
    Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort
    Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
Description

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, marijuana is one of the most frequently used drugs around the globe and its use is particularly widespread among young people. In 2022, marijuana was the most commonly used illicit drug in the U.S., with 22.0% of people aged 12 or older (or 61.9 million people) using it in the past year. The percentage was highest among young adults aged 18 to 25 (38.2% or 13.3 million people). The amount of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, has been increasing steadily over the past few decades. For a person who’s new to marijuana use this may mean exposure to higher THC levels with a greater chance of a harmful reaction. Higher THC levels may explain the rise in emergency room visits involving marijuana use we have seen in recent years. Long-term marijuana use has been linked to mental illness symptoms in some people, including temporary hallucinations and/or paranoia; and worsening symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Marijuana use has also been linked to other mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts among teens. This presentation will review current epidemiological trends in marijuana use, the short and long-term effects cannabinoids have on the brain and body and recent studies that have begun to shed light on populations that may be most at risk for serious negative consequences.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this course, participants will be able to:

  • Appreciate the widespread use of marijuana and other cannabinoids across the globe.

  • Describe increasing trends in marijuana potency in the U.S. over the past several decades.

  • Describe some of the acute and long-term effects of using marijuana.

  • Describe some of the studies linking heavy marijuana use to such mental disorders as anxiety, depression and schizophrenia.

CE Policy
This course is fiscally sponsored by Exchange Events. There may be potential biases or conflicts of interest inherent to this relationship, and it must be disclosed to participants. These conflicts of interest have no bearing on the course content and have been resolved.
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Nora D. Volkow, M.D.

Nora D. Volkow, MD, became Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health in May 2003. NIDA supports most of the world’s research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction.

Dr. Volkow’s work has been instrumental in demonstrating that drug addiction is a disease of the human brain. As a research psychiatrist and scientist, Dr. Volkow pioneered the use of brain imaging to investigate the toxic effects and addictive properties of abusable drugs. Her studies have documented changes in the dopamine system affecting, among others, the functions of frontal brain regions involved with motivation, drive, and pleasure in addiction. She has also made important contributions to the neurobiology of obesity, ADHD, and aging.

Dr. Volkow was born in Mexico, attended the Modern American School, and earned her medical degree from the National University of Mexico in Mexico City, where she received the Robins award for best medical student of her generation. Her psychiatric residency was at New York University, where she earned the Laughlin Fellowship Award as one of the 10 Outstanding Psychiatric Residents in the USA.

Dr. Volkow spent most of her professional career at the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in Upton, New York, where she held several leadership positions including Director of Nuclear Medicine, Chairman of the Medical Department, and Associate Director for Life Sciences. In addition, Dr. Volkow was a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Associate Dean of the Medical School at the State University of New York (SUNY)-Stony Brook.

Dr. Volkow has published more than 680 peer-reviewed articles and written more than 100 book chapters and non-peer-reviewed manuscripts and has also edited four books on neuroimaging for mental and addictive disorders.

During her professional career, Dr. Volkow has been the recipient of multiple awards. In 2013, she was a Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal (Sammies) finalist and was inducted into the Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD) Hall of Fame. She was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine in the National Academy of Sciences, received the International Prize from the French Institute of Health and Medical Research for her pioneering work in brain imaging and addiction science, and was awarded the Carnegie Prize in Mind and Brain Sciences from Carnegie Mellon University. She has been named one of Time magazine’s “Top 100 People Who Shape Our World”, “One of the 20 People to Watch” by Newsweek magazine, Washingtonian magazine’s “100 Most Powerful Women” in both 2015 and 2017, “Innovator of the Year” by U.S. News & World Report, and one of “34 Leaders Who Are Changing Health Care” by Fortune magazine. Dr. Volkow was the subject of a 2012 profile piece by CBS’s 60 Minutes and was a featured speaker at TEDMED 2014.

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