How does smoking marijuana generally affect someone with schizophrenia?
Dr. Duckworth: “Josh smoking marijuana raises his risk for trouble in several ways. Marijuana raises the risk that a person will develop schizophrenia in the first place-one estimate says 10% of people with schizophrenia smoked marijuana heavily before age 15. We also know that people who use marijuana who also have schizophrenia do not do as well when it comes to the important elements of being independent, like holding down a job, maintaining personal relationships, or keeping an apartment. Finally marijuana may make hallucinations worse. Narcotics Anonymous, Smart Recovery and AA are helpful pieces to the puzzle for many people with co-occurring substance issues. Most kids associate using alcohol with normal life and social interaction, so this is a real challenge in treatment for younger people with the illness.” There you have it. If a person wants to make sure he or she never recovers from schizophrenia, by all means marijuana use will achieve this goal. If a person would love to
