Key points
Cannabis alters brain function, thereby altering the mind.
The legalization of medical and recreational cannabis impacts prescriptions for psychiatric medications.
Anxiolytic prescriptions are altered differently than antidepressant and antipsychotic prescriptions.
Some legitimate questions cannot be researched using the “gold standard” of double-blind methodology needed to establish direct cause and effect. Instead, we need to rely on large computer databases and statistical analysis to provide perspective on the degree to which two events are associated with each other. A new study of over 10 million anonymized commercially insured patients looked at whether the use of anxiolytic (i.e., benzodiazepines), antidepressant , and antipsychotic medications is changed by state laws permitting the medical use, recreational use, or no legal use of cannabis. [i] The study’s authors proposed this would be a very interesting thing to know, "given perceptions about the potential effect of cannabis on individuals with mental health disorders.”
In states, legalizing medical cannabis is associated with a 12.4% reduction in the fill rate of benzodiazepine prescriptions, and those states with legal recreational cannabis, legalization is associated with a 15.2% fill rate reduction. This reduction of benzodiazepine use is not surprising given the well-established fact that cannabis products generally have an anxiolytic effect for most people. This study suggests that people in states with the availability of legal cannabis offer an “over the counter” alternative to prescription benzodiazepines, which requires a physician’s ongoing approval. The ease of obtaining cannabis, along with its bonus sensations (from subtle to profound) could appeal to people who see no value in consulting an expensive physician or are embarrassed to do so. Furthermore, good medical practice encumbers benzodiazepine use with cautions regarding overuse and addiction while many cannabis dispensaries may issue no such warnings about their products.
On the other hand, legalization of medical and recreational cannabis is associated with the opposite impact on antidepressant and antipsychotic prescriptions, though the major impact seems related to the legalization of medical cannabis and less to that of recreational cannabis. The opening of local legal medical cannabis dispensaries is associated with an 8.8% increase in antidepressant prescription fills. Prescriptions […]
Cannabis Legalization Impacts Use of Psychiatric Medications
