http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Most adults are drinking responsibly, and fewer are smoking or using illicit substances – but several areas of concern were found in the 2011 CAMH Monitor survey of Ontario substance use trends, released today by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-young-adults-cannabis-survey.html Addiction Wed, 28 Nov 2012 10:53:21 EST news273322374 The ability of cannabis to produce psychosis has long been an important public health concern. This concern is growing in importance as there is emerging data that cannabis exposure during adolescence may increase the risk of developing schizophrenia, a serious psychotic disorder. Further, with the advent of medical marijuana, a new group of people with uncertain psychosis risk may be exposed to cannabis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-gene-cannabis-psychosis.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 14 Nov 2012 10:31:35 EST news272111461 Researchers at the University of Bergen in Norway have found new support for their theory that cannabis use causes a temporary cognitive breakdown in non-psychotic individuals, leading to long-term psychosis. In an fMRI study published this week in Frontiers in Psychiatry, researchers found a different brain activity pattern in schizophrenia patients with previous cannabis use than in schizophrenic patients without prior cannabis use. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-cannabis-mimics-cognitive-weakness-schizophrenia.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 02 Nov 2012 12:09:42 EST news271076971 Cannabis users have a greater chance of relapse to cannabis use when they experience certain withdrawal symptoms, according to research published Sep. 26 in the open access journal PLOS ONE led by David Allsop of the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre (NCPIC) at the University of New South Wales. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-cannabis-symptoms-clinical-importance.html Addiction Wed, 26 Sep 2012 17:00:04 EST news267895124 Shaken awake by police on a park bench, a 12-year-old boy from Prague was so drunk he could neither walk nor talk -- grim evidence of an unparalleled alcohol scourge affecting underage Czechs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-czech-teens-europe-heaviest-underage.html Addiction Wed, 11 Jul 2012 03:40:01 EST news261196007 Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found clinical evidence that the drug gabapentin, currently on the market to treat neuropathic pain and epilepsy, helps people to quit smoking marijuana (cannabis). Unlike traditional addiction treatments, gabapentin targets stress systems in the brain that are activated by drug withdrawal. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-scientists-anticonvulsant-drug-marijuana-smokers.html Addiction Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:37:38 EST news254482631 (Medical Xpress) -- For the first time, scientists have proven that cannabis harms the brain. But the same study challenges previously-held assumptions about use of the drug, showing that some brain irregularities predate drug use.  http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-cannabis-brain-full-story.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:16:53 EST news242900203 A new research study conducted by an international team of experts recommends a public health approach to cannabis - including evidence-based guidelines for lower-risk use - to reduce the health harms that result from the use of cannabis. Led by CAMH scientist and CIHR/PHAC Chair in Applied Public Health (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver) Dr. Benedikt Fischer, the study is being published in the September/October 2011 issue of the Canadian Journal of Public Health (CJPH). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-health-guidelines-cannabis.html Health Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:14:36 EST news235923261 Quitting cannabis use in your 20s significantly reduces the chance of progressing to other illicit drugs, according to research published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-cannabis-link-drugs.html Health Tue, 19 Jul 2011 08:15:10 EST news230282078