While no psychoactive substance is completely harmless,
modern science continues to prove that cannabis is one of the safer and
more effective therapeutic agents available. Here’s a look back at some
of the most significant marijuana-centric studies published over the
past year.
1. Pot Use Doesn’t Adversely Impact IQ
The cumulative use of cannabis by adolescents has no ill effect on intelligence, according to longitudinal data
published in January in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences.
Investigators evaluated intellectual performance in two
longitudinal cohorts of adolescent twins.
Participants were assessed for
intelligence at ages 9 to 12, prior to any marijuana exposure, and
again at ages 17 to 20. They concluded: "In the largest longitudinal
examination of marijuana use and IQ change, ... we find little evidence
to suggest that adolescent marijuana use has a direct effect on
intellectual decline.”
Those who use marijuana, on average, possess a lower body mass index (BMI) than those who abstain from the herb. So reported
researchers at the University of Miami this past July in The Journal of
Mental Health Policy and Economics. Investigators assessed the
relationships between marijuana use and body mass index over time in a
nationally representative sampling of American adolescents. They
concluded: "[D]aily female marijuana users have a BMI that is
approximately 3.1 percent lower than that of non-users, whereas daily
male users have a BMI that is approximately 2.7 percent lower than that
of non-users." Lower BMI is associated with less risk of heart disease
and other potential adverse health issues.
The passage of medical marijuana legalization is associated with reduced traffic fatalities among younger drivers, according to data
published this month in the American Journal of Public Health.
Investigators from Columbia University assessed the relationship between
medical cannabis access and motor vehicle accidents over a nearly
three-decade period (1985 to 2014). They reported: “[O]n average, MMLs
(medical marijuana laws) states had lower traffic fatality rates than
non-MML states.
.... MMLs are associated with reductions in traffic
fatalities, particularly pronounced among those aged 25 to 44 years. ...
It is possible that this is related to lower alcohol-impaired driving
behavior in MML-states.”
Patients
who reside states where medical cannabis is legal spend less money
overall on conventional medications. So determined University of Georgia
scientists in July. Researchers assessed the relationship between
medical marijuana legalization laws and physicians' prescribing patterns
in 17 states over a three-year period (2010 to 2013). Specifically,
researchers assessed patients' consumption of and spending on
prescription drugs approved under Medicare Part D in nine domains:
anxiety, depression, glaucoma, nausea, pain, psychosis, seizures, sleep
disorders, and spasticity. Authors reported
that prescription drug use fell significantly in seven of the nine
domains assessed, and they estimated that nationwide legalization would
result in a savings of more than $468 million in annual drug spending.
Cannabis
consumers are not a drain on the health care system. Researchers at the
University of Wisconsin assessed the relationship between marijuana use
and health care utilization in a nationally representative sample of US
adults aged 18 to 59 years old. Their findings
appeared in October in the European Journal of Internal Medicine. They
determined that pot users, including habitual consumers, were no more
likely than non-users to be admitted to the hospital or to access
outpatient health care services. Researchers concluded, "[C]ontrary to
popular belief, ... marijuana use is not associated with increased
healthcare utilization, [and] there [is] also no association between
health care utilization and frequency of marijuana use."
Patients who test positive for cannabis are less likely to die while hospitalized, according to data published
online in November in the journal Cancer Medicine. A team of
researchers from the University of Northern Colorado, Colorado State
University, and the University of Alabama assessed the relationship
between marijuana use and health outcomes among a nationwide sample of
3.9 million hospitalized patients. Researchers reported a correlation
between a patient’s history of cannabis use and survival rates,
particularly among those admitted for cancer treatment.
They concluded,
"Odds of in-hospital mortality were significantly reduced among
marijuana users compared with non-users in all hospitalized patients as
well as cancer patients."
More
seniors are becoming stoners. According to population data published in
November in the journal Addiction, marijuana use by those age 50 and
older has spiked significantly since 2006.
Specifically, authors reported
that the prevalence of past-year cannabis has risen approximately 60
percent for those age 50 to 64, and increased 250 percent for those over
65 years of age.
It’s understandable why. Older Americans are well
aware of the multitude of the severe side effects
often associated with conventional medication whereas cannabis is
recognized as to possess no risk of fatal overdose and is associated
with far fewer significant adverse events.
The
moderate use of cannabis during pregnancy is not an independent risk
factor for adverse neonatal outcomes such as low birth weight, according
to a literature review published
in October in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology. Investigators at
the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis reviewed
outcomes from more than two-dozen relevant case-control studies
published between 1982 and 2015.
They reported that the maternal use of
tobacco, not marijuana, is likely responsible for adverse events such as
pre-term births or children born at a weight below normal for their
gestational age.
Researchers concluded: "[T]he results of this
systematic review and meta-analysis suggest that the increased risk for
adverse neonatal outcomes reported in women using marijuana in pregnancy
is likely the result of coexisting use of tobacco and other cofounding
factors and not attributable to marijuana use itself. Although these
data do not imply that marijuana use during pregnancy should be
encouraged or condoned, the lack of a significant association with
adverse neonatal outcomes suggests that attention should be focused on
aiding pregnant women with cessation of substances known to have adverse
effects on the pregnancy such as tobacco."
It’s
long been presumed that consuming alcohol increases user’s feelings of
aggression while cannabis exposure does just the opposite. Data
published in July in journal Psychopharmacology confirms it.
Investigators from Maastricht University in the Netherlands and
Frankfurt University in Germany evaluated subjects' response to
aggressive stimuli following exposure to alcohol, cannabis, or placebo.
Predictably, researchers reported that alcohol and cannabis intoxication
resulted in disparate responses among participants. They concluded,
"The results in the present study support the hypothesis that acute
alcohol intoxication increases feelings of aggression and that acute
cannabis intoxication reduces feelings of aggression following
aggression exposure."
Fewer adolescents are consuming cannabis; among those who do, fewer are engaging in problematic use of the plant, according to data published
in July in the Journal of the American Academy of Child &
Adolescent Psychiatry. Investigators at Washington University's School
of Medicine in St. Louis evaluated government survey data regarding
adolescents' drug use habits during the years 2002 to 2013.
Researchers
reported that the percentage of respondents who said that they had used
cannabis over the past year fell by ten percent during the study period.
The number of adolescents reporting marijuana-related problems, such as
engaging in habitual use of the plant, declined by 24 percent from 2002
to 2013. The study's findings are consistent with previous evaluations
reporting decreased marijuana use and abuse
by young people over the past decade and a half – a period of time
during which numerous states have liberalized their cannabis policies.
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