In a South African psychiatric hospital, a two-year study of 370 patients revealed that nearly half were active cannabis users — a finding that places an old clinical suspicion on firmer empirical ground. The research, published in the South African Journal of Psychiatry, documents how the convergence of cannabis use and psychotic illness creates a harder, more relentless form of suffering: earlier onset, greater severity, poorer adherence to treatment, and cascading losses in housing, employment, and family stability. This is not a story of moral failing but of compounding vulnerability — you
South African study links cannabis use to severe psychosis, higher relapse rates
Individuals with comorbid cannabis use and psychosis face homelessness, violence, incarceration, and relationship/employment disruption; families bear increased caregiving burden.