Globally, cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug. As cannabis policy is liberalising, there is an expected increase in adolescent use. This introduces an urgent need to understand what underlies harmful use, and to understand if cannabis plays a role in mental health disorder development. A key consideration in understanding the health impacts of cannabis is frequency of use. Cannabis dependence, characterised by loss of control over use and poor health and social functioning is more likely with frequent use. Yet, we know little about what factors determine frequency of use (and thus likelihood of related harm) among adolescents; a group in which use is high (40-70% prevalence), and for whom frequent use may lead to particularly poor mental health outcomes, including depression and anxiety
This fellowship will investigate trajectories of cannabis use among adolescents in the general population, exploring the role of Early Life Stress (ELS; a consistent correlate of use and dependence) in frequent cannabis use.