The NHS has opened the UK’s first ever cannabis treatment clinic in response to soaring levels of “skunk”-induced psychosis.

Users of skunk, an especially potent form of cannabis, are presenting with symptoms of psychosis at an alarming rate according to the psychiatrist leading the pilot clinic based in King’s College London.

Dr Marta Di Forti described cannabis-induced psychosis as a “crisis” which cannot be ignored. Tens of thousands of people are affected she told The Mail on Sunday.

The clinic will treat users of the drug who have experienced psychosis for the first time through a three-month programme which endeavors to wean users off the substance. Hallucinations often occur as a result of psychosis and the condition can also make a person paranoid and distressed.

Dr Di Forti said she has been overwhelmed by the number of cannabis users presenting to her with symptoms of psychosis.

“‘It became ridiculous how many psychosis patients were also cannabis smokers,” the consultant adult psychiatrist and lecturer at King’s College London said. “It got to the point where two-thirds of my psychosis patients had a history of cannabis use.”