Little research exists on cannabis impact on women, study says

June 4 (UPI) -- Not enough studies investigate the negative psychological impacts of marijuana on young women, a new study says.

Most research on the negative psychological impact of marijuana focuses largely on men, neglecting to study how women are affected by the drug, according to findings published Tuesday in Current Psychiatry Reports.

In a study published earlier this year, Hamilton found that high-potency cannabis was linked to 50 percent of diagnosed psychosis disorders cases in Amsterdam.

"Cannabis psychosis is one risk which can have a devastating effect on an individual and their family," Ian Hamilton, a researcher at the University of York and study author, said in a news release. "One such problem relates to gender bias. The research we looked at predominantly includes men and not women."

For the new study, researchers looked over decades of scientific literature to discover the disparity in studies that show the impact of cannabis on men compared to women.

Pregnant women who smoke marijuana also increase the risk for their children to develop schizophrenia later in life.

Cannabis research gaps also exists around the world, the researchers say. Studies tend to focus on places like the United States, Europe and Australia, skipping over regions like Africa and the Middle East -- Hamilton said need to be included.

"We need to accept that cannabis psychosis is about more than genetics or biology but is affected by social factors such as where and how young people grow up and the problems they experience as they develop," Hamilton said.