suicide Archives - Marijuana Impact Group

Marijuana and teens: Increased risks for suicidal behaviors from use

admin — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 23:52:29 +0000

Compared to non-users, adolescents (ages 12-17) who use marijuana, have increased risks of suicidal ideation, planning and attempts. These findings also held true for adolescents diagnosed with a cannabis use disorder (CUD) according to research released in Frontiers in Psychiatry (January 5, 2023).

This study examined responses by nearly 74,000 individuals aged 12 to 17 who took part in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) from 2015 to 2019. Death by suicide is one of the top three reasons for death for pre-teens, teenagers, and young adults. Researchers noted that the number of individuals who thought about suicide, planned to commit suicide, or had an actual suicide attempt, were nearly ten times greater than the actual number of individuals who died from suicide.

Marijuana use classed as less than weekly to daily or near daily use was associated to increased mental health risks marked by suicidal ideation or behavior. Increased legalization efforts, creating a greater availability to the drug, and high potency cannabis-based products are compounding this problem.

Read time: 15 minutes.

Photo: Unsplash.com / Funeral Guide

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Suicide, Marijuana and Depression: Increased Risks

admin — Thu, 01 Jul 2021 20:05:03 +0000

Just published in the JAMA Network (June 22, 2021) was a study examining marijuana use and its association with suicide risks in young adults using data from the 2008 – 2019 National Surveys of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). The report, “Associations of Suicidality Trends With Cannabis Use as a Function of Sex and Depression Status” by authors (Han, Compton, Einstein & Volkow) examined survey responses from over 281,000 adults ages 18 – 34 years. The authors found an increased prevalence of suicidal thoughts, planning & attempts among people with a diagnosis of a Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD) in the past year, as well as among daily and nondaily consumers of marijuana. Additionally, when it came to demographics by sex, women were found to have greater risk ratios than did men.

When comparing data from 2008 – 2009 to 2018 – 2019 and after controlling for variables such CUDs, depressive episodes and other factors, overall suicidal ideation and attempts increased by 1.4 times. Suicidal planning by individuals also increased by 1.6 times for the same time period.

Read Time: 15 – 20 minutes

Photo: unsplash.com/C. Fernando

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