Cannabis use can drastically increase risk of developing psychotic disorder

One in six people with psychosis developed it due to cannabis use, according to a report by the Daily Mail.

Close to 50,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with the conditions because they used the drug as teenagers, revealed Professor Robin Murray, an expert on schizophrenia at King’s College London,

He claims many of them had no family history of psychosis and primarily developed the disease due to cannabis.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists warn cannabis use can significantly increase an individual's risk of becoming psychotic.

"If you smoke heavy, high-potency cannabis, your risk of psychosis increases about five times," Professor Murray told the Daily Mail. Adding, "A quarter of cases of psychosis we see in south London would not have happened without use of high-potency cannabis."

Someone using cannabis can experience panic attacks, hallucinations and paranoia.

Researchers have found the drug hampers a brain chemical called dopamine, a predictor of how people rationally respond to events.

"As mental health doctors, we can say with absolute certainty that cannabis carries severe risks. The average cannabis user is around twice as likely as a non-user to develop a psychotic disorder," Dr Adrian James, registrar at the Royal College of Psychiatrists is quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.