Tag: Carroll

Reading of the Week: Cannabis, with Papers from CMAJ and JAMA; Also, Carroll on Legalization

February 12, 2026 /

From the Editor

With more and more countries legalizing cannabis, we must wonder about the health implications. This week’s Reading offers three selections.

How does legalization (and increased use) affect mental health? Is there more psychosis? In the first selection, just published in CMAJ, Dr. Daniel T. Myran (of the University of Toronto) and his co-authors analyzed data from 12 million people born in Ontario, Canada, to attempt to answer those questions. They looked at diagnoses of psychosis-related disorders and years of birth, finding those born in the early 2000s were about twice as likely to have been diagnosed with a psychotic disorder by age 20. “The incidence of psychotic disorders has increased in more recent birth cohorts.” We consider the paper and its implications.

In a recent US survey, 20% of respondents reported using CBD in the last year – which is often assumed to be safer than THC. In the second selection from JAMA Internal Medicine, Jeffry Florian (of the US Food and Drug Administration) and his co-authors analyzed liver enzymes of healthy participants randomized to CBD or placebo. “In this randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled trial, 5.6% of healthy adults administered CBD 5 mg/kg/d for up to 28 days experienced liver enzyme level elevations greater than 3 times the upper limit of normal.”

Finally, in the third selection, Dr. Aaron E. Carroll (of Indiana University) writes about cannabis legalization. While arguing that there are successes with this policy change, he also worries about long-term consequences. He writes that reforms are needed, from better regulation to more education. “The real lesson here isn’t even about cannabis. It’s about our capacity to learn and adapt.”

DG

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Reading of the Week: Weight Loss for People with Schizophrenia? STEPWISE Didn’t Work. On the Big Paper, the Not-So-Big Result & Negative Results

October 11, 2018 /

From the Editor

Years ago, I worked with a patient who lost 70 pounds with an aggressive regiment of exercise. His determination was exceptional but his struggles with obesity weren’t. People with schizophrenia are twice as likely as the general population to deal with weight problems.

In the first selection, we consider a paper on weight loss for those with schizophrenia and related illnesses. STEPWISE offered these patients a thoughtful approach to weight management. The paper is remarkable for its finding: the intervention didn’t work. As the University of Southampton’s Dr. Richard I. G. Holt and his co-authors write: “the intervention was neither clinically nor cost-effective over the 12-month intervention period.”

In this Reading, we consider the paper, but also the larger issue of negative trials and their lack of presence in the literature.

bank-failure-lw-schwenk-locWe often read about bank failures; medical study failures, not so much

In the second selection, we draw on a New York Times essay by pediatrician Aaron E. Carroll who calls for the publication of more negative trials. “These actions might make for more boring news and more tempered enthusiasm. But they might also lead to more accurate science.”

DG

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