USA Today (1/6, O’Donnell) reports that with the increasing legalization of marijuana, “parents of children who make up the mounting cases of cannabis-induced psychosis and other mental illness say treatment is far less available than the pot they say is linked to the conditions.” The current “rise in psychosis, schizophrenia and suicide among young, heavy users comes amid a shortage in” physicians “and facilities to treat them.” USA Today adds, “It wasn’t until 2013 that the Diagnostic Statistical Manual – the physicians’ bible for recognized mental health conditions – added a ‘cannabis-use-disorder’ section.”

Related Links:

— “As marijuana-induced psychosis rises, parents say treatment for young people hard to find, “Jayne O’Donnell, USA Today, January 6, 2020

Reuters (1/3, Rapaport) reported a new study published in JAMA Network Open suggests that “many older Americans have experienced more days of poor mental health in recent years.” An examination of “data on 2.4 million people aged 60 and older who participated in annual surveys between 2003 and 2017” found “the average number of days each month when people aged 60 to 64 experienced poor mental health rose from 2.9 to 3.6,” and “climbed from 2.3 to 3.0 days for individuals 65 to 69 and from 2.2 to 2.4 days among those 70 to 74 years old.” While “declines in mental health were similar for men and women,” they were “greater for people with lower income and education.”

Related Links:

— “Mental health declining among older U.S. adults, poor hardest hit, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, January 3, 2020

Healio (1/3, Dreisbach) reported, “High daily opioid dosages are associated with a heightened risk for overdose in adolescents and young adults,” researchers concluded after conducting “a retrospective cohort study of 2,752,612 privately insured patients aged 12 to 21 years with opioid prescription claims and no cancer diagnosis via the IBM MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters database between July 1, 2009, and Oct. 1, 2017.” The findings were published online Dec. 16 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “High opioid dosages increase overdose risk in young patients, “Eamon Dreisbach, Healio, January 3, 2020

Reuters (1/3, Rapaport) reported, “Children may learn from an early age when it’s appropriate to drink and how many drinks are okay from watching all the adults in their lives,” investigators concluded after asking “75 fathers and 83 mothers how common it would be for adults to drink in a range of situations like during a party, at work, while watching television or while driving,” then asking “359 unrelated children, ages 4 to 8, in which situations they thought it was common or appropriate for adults to drink.” The study also revealed that as children grew “older, they became increasingly aware of social norms surrounding alcohol consumption,” but “familiarity with alcohol might make kids more likely to start drinking earlier in life or lead to more frequent drinking.” The findings were published online in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism.

Related Links:

— “Kids see you when you’re drinking, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, January 3, 2020

Reuters (1/3, Chander) reported, “People with mental illness get screened for cancer at much lower rates than the general population, which may contribute to higher rates of cancer deaths among the mentally ill, researchers say.” The disparities were found to be “greatest among women with schizophrenia, who were roughly half as likely as women in the general population to be screened for breast cancer.” The results were published online in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “People with mental illness less likely to get cancer screening, “Vishwadha Chander, Reuters Health, January 3, 2020