Atlanta, Georgia: The enactment of state laws legalizing medical or adult-use marijuana is associated with a decrease in benzodiazepine prescriptions, according to data published in JAMA Network Open.
Researchers affiliated with the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Georgia evaluated the relationship between legalization laws and the dispensing of psychotropic drugs used to treat mental illness.
“Medical and recreational cannabis policies were consistently associated with reduced benzodiazepine dispensing volumes,” the researchers concluded. Specifically, the implementation of medical cannabis laws was associated with a 12.4 percent decrease in prescription dispensing rates per 10,000 patients, and adult-use cannabis legalization was associated with a 15.2 percent decrease.
Other studies evaluating patients' prescription drug use after initiating medical cannabis use have similarly reported reduced benzodiazepine use.
The researchers also noted a slight increase in prescriptions for antidepressants and antipsychotics, a finding that contradicts previous research. Specifically, a 2022 paper published in the same journal found no association between adoption of marijuana legalization and overall rates of psychosis-related diagnoses or antipsychotic prescriptions.
The study authors concluded: “We found that cannabis laws and pharmacies were associated with a significant reduction in benzodiazepine dispensings among people with private insurance. … These results have important implications for health outcomes. … Benzodiazepine use can cause harmful side effects, including respiratory depression, which can be fatal. … Thus, if patients are indeed reducing their benzodiazepine use to manage their anxiety symptoms with cannabis, this may represent a safer treatment option overall.”
Additionally, the researchers acknowledged that “Conversely, the positive correlation we found between state cannabis laws and the dispensing of antidepressants and antipsychotics is concerning, but may not be surprising given the unsettled literature on cannabis use and depression and psychosis. … Overall, our findings suggest that further research is needed to assess whether changes in MHD dispensing are associated with differences in medical outcomes.”
The full study, “Cannabis Laws and the Use of Medicines in Treating Mental Illness,” is published in JAMA Network Open.
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