The researchers found that, in the years leading up to the new law, the male suicide trend was largely the same across all surveyed states. But as soon as medical marijuana was introduced, state trends began to diverge, with legalizing states recording a drop and non-legalizing states recording a surge. On average, states that legalized the medicinal use of the drug cut the male suicide rate from 27.2 per 100,000 men to 23.5 in the three years following the law change.
“Opponents of legalizing medical marijuana point to the large number of studies showing that marijuana use is positively associated with depression, the onset of panic attacks, psychosis, schizophrenia, and suicidal ideation,” the authors explained. “However, the association between marijuana use and outcomes such as these could be attributable to difficult-to-measure confounders such as personality.”
According to the
Mayo Clinic, there is “good scientific evidence” that the medical marijuana can be used as palliative treatment for multiple sclerosis and other conditions involving chronic nerve and muscle pain. That said, success stories from patients suggest that the drug can help alleviate an even broader range of symptoms, including seizures associated with epilepsy. One example is Charlotte Figi, a 6-year-old with epilepsy whose life was
transformed by a course of low-THC cannabis oil.
