The increased decriminalization and legalization of cannabis has led to the false sense of safety and beneficence of the substance. As such, increase permissive use has led to an increase in unveiling of the true dangers of cannabis and marijuana use.
One of such dangers of cannabis is the immense psychological damage from cannabis use. Published in Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, investigators found that those have serious psychological distress are more likely to use cannabis, and are at an increased risk of developing the diagnosis known as “cannabis use disorder”.
The study analyzed a dataset of over 27,000 individuals who were surveyed through the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The survey included questions regarding participants’ their demographic information and history with cannabis use including age of first use, professional mental health treatments, mental illness history, measurements of psychological distress, etc.
Over 25% of the participants reported psychological distress and approximately half of those were under the age of 35 years old. Cannabis users were more prevalent among those with moderate and serious distress compared to no distress, with also an increase proportion to be diagnosed with cannabis use disorder.
“In conclusion, our study brings to light the significant positive associations between psychological distress and cannabis use frequency among US adults and between psychological distress and cannabis use disorder among cannabis users. Young adults are the group most affected by psychological distress, cannabis use, and cannabis use disorder. The study also shows the significant associations of psychological distress with other substance use/use disorders. Given cannabis’ easy availability/ accessibility due to legalization in increasing numbers of states, the prevalence of cannabis use and cannabis use disorder is likely to increase,” wrote the authors in their published study.
Despite what pro-cannabis people make cannabis out to be, it is neither a safe nor sustainable solution to mental health issues. Its legalization with have detriments to generations to come.
So stop running to chemicals for relief from your psychological ills. Address your problems, go exercise, meditate, walk with friends, or stargaze and find the awesome beauty that you are apart of in this universe, but don’t run to drugs for your problems.
NG Choi et al. Psychological distress, cannabis use frequency, and cannabis use disorder among US adults in 2020. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2022.2142708
