Study: Cannabis legalization leads to lower suicide rates

Recent research by experts from the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, the Yale Law School, from Cato Institute and Reason Foundation, found no correlation between cannabis use, suicide and mental illness.

It follows a 2013 study that reached the same conclusion, namely that legalizing recreational cannabis correlated with a 6.29 % reduction in suicide rates among men aged 40-49, and that no other mental health outcomes were systematically affected by cannabis liberalization, according to the researchers.

The new study uses the same methodology as the 2013 study, performing a longitudinal analysis at the state level using suicide rates from the National Center for Health Statistics and mental health morbidity rates in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Data included all 50 states and Washington, D.C., from 1999 to 2019.

The new study notes, «Negative mental health outcomes do not follow state-level cannabis liberalization, confirming the findings [of the 2013 study]. In addition, there is evidence that access to recreational marijuana reduces suicide rates among middle-aged men.»

They note that, although suicide rates reached higher levels in all ETats, they declined for «certain demographic categories» after access to recreational cannabis. Although, at the same time, cannabis use, after reaching an all-time low in 1992, showed a slight upward trend until 2007 and, since then, has also increased at a higher rate until 2019.

They also note that Anderson et al. found (in the 2013 study) that legalizing medical marijuana resulted in a 10.8 % and 9.4 % drop in suicide rates for men aged 20-29 and 30-39 respectively.

In conclusion, the researchers say that concerns about the correlation between cannabis use and depression should not interfere with state or federal efforts to decriminalize or legalize cannabis.

«In fact, legalization will have the salutary effect of enabling more rigorous research - now inhibited by federal prohibition - into the additional benefits, as well as any other potential harms, of long-term marijuana use, and promoting safer use,» the researchers concluded.