September 26, 2024
(press release)
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Atlanta, GA: The adoption of state laws legalizing marijuana for either medical or adult-use is associated with declines in benzodiazepine prescriptions, according to data published in the journal JAMA Network Open. Researchers affiliated with the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Georgia assessed the relationship between legalization laws and the dispensing of psychotropic medications used to treat mental health disorders. “Both medical and recreational cannabis policies were consistently associated with reductions in benzodiazepine dispensing,” investigators determined. Specifically, the implementation of medical cannabis laws was associated with a 12.4 percent reduction in the prescription fill rate per 10,000 patients while adult-use legalization was associated with a 15.2 percent reduction. Other studies assessing patients’ use of prescription medications following their initiation of medical cannabis have similarly reported decreases in the use of benzodiazepines. Researchers also acknowledged slight upticks in prescriptions for antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs – a finding that is inconsistent with prior studies. Specifically, a 2022 paper published in the same journal found no association between the adoption of marijuana legalization and overall rates of psychosis-related diagnoses or prescribed antipsychotics. The study’s authors concluded: “We found that cannabis laws and dispensaries were associated with significant decreases in the dispensing of benzodiazepines in a commercially insured population. … These results have important implications for health outcomes. … Benzodiazepine use can lead to harmful adverse effects, including respiratory depression, which can be fatal. … Thus, if patients are, in fact, reducing their benzodiazepine use to manage their anxiety symptoms with cannabis, this may represent a safer treatment option overall.” They further acknowledged, “Conversely, the positive association found between state cannabis laws and dispensing of antidepressants and antipsychotics is cause for concern, although perhaps unsurprising given the unsettled literature surrounding cannabis use and depression or psychosis. … Overall, our results suggest that additional research is needed to assess whether changes in dispensing of MHDs [mental health disorder medications] are associated with differences in health care outcomes.” .
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