A recent study published by the Scientific Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA, for its acronym in English) Maintains that There is no significant increase in psychosis diagnoses due to the legalization of cannabis in the United States.
This analysis refutes one of the main arguments of supporters of the ban and those who oppose the regulation of cannabis, which is that greater access to the plant would imply an increase in psychosis and other related diseases..
The study, carried out by specialists from the Universities of Pennsylvania, Stanford and New York, analyzed medical care data from more than 63 million health insurance beneficiaries, older of 16 ago, in between 2003 and 2017 in the 50 United States states and the District of Columbia.
It also considers that since June 2022 medical cannabis is legal in 38 states of that country, while in 19 recreational use allowed.
In that sense, The analysis focused on places where cannabis is legalized, that is to say, where personal use is allowed, crop, production, promotion and sale, not only where there is decriminalization, Some previous research suggests that decriminalization does not have a large enough effect on consumption rates to affect rates of psychotic disorders..
“State medical and recreational cannabis policies were not associated with a statistically significant increase in rates of psychosis-related health outcomes”, the authors point out in the conclusions.
“As states continue to introduce new cannabis policies, continued assessment of psychosis as a potential consequence of state cannabis legalization may be informative”, the researchers add.
In addition, The article highlights that “This study is the first and largest, as far as we know, on quantifying the association of medical and recreational cannabis policies with rates of psychosis-related healthcare claims in the states of the United States”.
Below you can review the full study:
