“The script for medicinal cannabis comes in, then things start to fall apart for them,” says Dr Stephen Parker.

“They become dramatically unwell and don’t return to their previous functioning.”

Dr Parker continues: “The thing that makes me anxious is that we are seeing young people develop psychosis who were performing well in school or university.” 

Dr Parker is a psychiatrist at the Metro North Health early-onset psychosis service in Brisbane who is among the growing number of doctors alarmed at Australia’s dramatic embrace of medicinal cannabis as a new mass prescription wonder cure.