Kaiser Health News (5/7, Hilzenrath) reports, “Marijuana and other products containing THC, the plant’s main psychoactive ingredient, have grown more potent and more dangerous as legalization has made them more widely available,” with some products currently having “more than 90% THC.” These higher concentrations of THC “pose greater hazards, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse,” which said on its website that “the risks of physical dependence and addiction increase with exposure to high concentrations of THC, and higher doses of THC are more likely to produce anxiety, agitation, paranoia, and psychosis.” Psychiatrist Smita Das, MD, “chair of an American Psychiatric Association council on addiction,” said that “cannabis use disorder ‘can be devastating.’” Dr. “Das said she has seen lives upended by cannabis – very successful people who have lost families and jobs.”

Related Links:

— “Legal pot is more potent than ever. And it’s still largely unregulated, putting consumers at risk. “David Hilzenrath, KFF Health News, May 7, 2023

Healio (5/5, Welsh) said, “Women who developed mood or anxiety disorders associated with pregnancy and childbirth had a specific and unique plasma protein signature regulating various neuronal signaling and proinflammatory pathways, researchers reported.” The findings were published online in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Related Links:

— “Women with perinatal mood, anxiety disorders have specific altered proteins “Erin T. Welsh, Healio , May 5, 2023

The Hill (5/4, Yarrow) reports, “Medical experts urged Congress to hold insurance companies accountable for inaccurate medical directories that can hamper access for patients seeking mental health treatments,” a “problem…referred to as a ‘ghost network,’ when health insurance” companies “ostensibly provide coverage, but direct customers to nonexistent or unavailable” physicians or other mental healthcare professionals. Some experts “said the problem can have serious consequences for patients seeking psychiatric care or other mental health treatments.”

Related Links:

— “Congress urged to tackle ‘ghost networks’ amid mental health crisis “Grace Yarrow, The Hill , May 4, 2023

Bloomberg (5/4, Kary, Subscription Publication) reports, “Young men who use potent marijuana frequently have an increased risk of developing schizophrenia,” investigators found in “a new study of almost seven million health records.” The study posited that “as many as 30% of cases of schizophrenia among men aged 21-to-30 could have been prevented had they avoided cannabis use disorder.” The findings were published online May 4 in the journal Psychological Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Heavy Marijuana Use Increases Schizophrenia in Men, Study Finds “Tiffany Kary, Bloomberg, May 4, 2023

Healio (5/4, VanDewater) reports, “U.S. counties with greater social vulnerability had higher rates of suicide,” investigators concluded after having “evaluated associations between suicide and social determinants of health…using county-level data from the CDC WONDER database from 2016 to 2020.” Social vulnerability factors: “These factors include lack of access to health care, stress of acculturation, exposure to community violence, historical trauma, and discrimination. Broader societal risk factors include stigma associated with help-seeking and mental illness, easy access to lethal means of suicide among people at risk, and unsafe media portrayals of suicide.” The findings were published online April 26 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Social determinants of health linked to suicide risk “Kalie VanDewater, Healio , May 4, 2023