Most people are still getting the wrong story about cannabis. After a trip to the US, addiction psychiatrist Dr. Richard Bradlow breaks down the four biggest misconceptions he heard, using the latest evidence on how this plant actually interacts with your body.
0:00 Busting cannabis myths from the US
0:44 Is cannabis actually addictive?
1:24 Cannabis, psychosis, and schizophrenia risk
2:25 Why stronger THC means higher risk
3:06 Self-medicating vs making mental illness worse
3:53 The THC fat-cell release during withdrawal
4:14 Cannabis hyperemesis syndrome explained
5:22 Why hot showers and capsaicin help
5:45 The only long-term cure: cessation
6:10 The medicinal cannabis pseudolegalisation
6:53 Anxiety, insomnia, pain: What the evidence says
7:34 My distress over Australia’s cannabis industry
**The Addiction Truth**
Addiction isn’t about the substance itself. It’s a maladaptive coping mechanism. Any pleasurable behaviour can become compulsive, and the way you use cannabis matters. Smoking delivers a faster, more reinforcing hit of pleasure than eating it, making the habit-forming potential very real.
**Psychosis and Schizophrenia: The Numbers**
The link is clear. Heavy cannabis use increases your risk of developing schizophrenia by about six times. Starting from a baseline risk of 1%, that rises to 6%. If you have a family history, your starting risk is already 10%, meaning heavy use could push that to 60%. The culprit is THC, which has become radically more potent in modern cannabis. Some medicinal strains now hit 30% THC, driving a rise in psychotic episodes.
**Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS)**
This is the uncontrollable vomiting that often strikes during withdrawal. Here’s why: THC stores itself in your fat cells, leaching out slowly for weeks or months after you stop. While other cannabinoids have an anti-vomiting effect, the lingering THC overwhelms your gut. The strange but reliable fix people find is a hot shower, as temperature changes can reset the gut’s signals. A capsaicin cream on the belly works too, but the only permanent cure is cannabis cessation. Once you’re sensitised to CHS, even a single smoke will trigger it again.
**The Medicinal Cannabis Confusion**
In Australia, medicinal cannabis has no approved uses and is only available under a special access scheme. This is because the evidence doesn’t currently support it for the most common prescriptions: anxiety, insomnia, and pain. In some cases, it can actually make those conditions worse. While a rare epilepsy syndrome called Dravet syndrome may benefit from CBD, the widespread prescribing of medicinal cannabis often looks more like a legal halfway house than a science-backed treatment.
**Why This Matters**
Whether you’re using cannabis to cope, or just trying to make sense of the legal landscape, your decisions need to be based on what the evidence actually shows about today’s high-potency products. The risks aren’t just about addiction. They’re about your long-term mental health and physical wellbeing.
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