: A NEUROBIOLOGICAL MODEL FOR PATHWAYS OF TRANSITION TO PSYCHOSIS DUE TO CANNABIS

Cannabis has been implicated as a risk factor for the development of schizophrenia, although the exact biological mechanisms remain unclear. Purpose of this presentation is to explore trajectory for psychosis due to cannabis based upon a neurobiological model. A selective Pubmed search was carried out to construct a model of pathway based upon our hypothesis. The hypothesis for this conceptual paradigm is that neurobiological changes exist and cannabis metabolites modulate these changes in a sequential manner from genetic expression, environmental and biological interaction and neurochemical dysfunctions leading to cognitive dysmatria. Dopamine remains a final common pathway which leads to core symptom manifestation of affective dysphonia. This symptomatic state unfolds into a psychotic state of affective symptoms due to acute consumption of cannabis in adolescence and post adolescence period We conclude that a model of pathways based upon neurobiological changes can be conceptualized to explain complex process of cannabis leading to psychotic state