“We find evidence to support the idea that greater marijuana availability is associated with a decrease in prescriptions for benzodiazepine.”
Ashley Bradford, Georgia Institute of Technology
In states that allow both recreational and medical marijuana, less patients fill prescriptions for anxiety medications. This is the main finding of my study published in JAMA Network Open.
I am an applied researcher in policy who studies the economics and risky behaviors of substance use in the United States. My collaborators wanted to know how marijuana laws, recreational marijuana laws, and the opening of marijuana dispensaries affected the rate that patients filled prescriptions for antianxiety medication among those with private medical insurance.
They include:
- Benzodiazepines work by increasing levels of gamma aminobutyric or GABA. GABA is a neurotransmitter which reduces activity in the nervous systems and has a calming affect. This group includes depressants such as Valium, Xanax, and Ativan.
- Antipsychotics is a class drug that can treat psychosis in many different ways.
- Antidepressants relieve depression symptoms by affecting neurotransmitters like serotonin and norepinephrine. The best-known of these are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
We also included barbiturates, which are sedatives, and sleep medications—sometimes called “Z-drugs”—both of which are used to treat insomnia. We did not estimate the policy impact of either of these drugs, unlike for the other categories.
We have found consistent evidence that the increased use of marijuana is linked to a decrease in benzodiazepine prescribing. The term “fills” is used to refer to the number prescriptions that are picked up by the patient, not the number prescribed by the doctor. This is calculated by calculating the percentage of patients who filled a prescribed in a given state, average days supply per prescription fill, and average prescriptions per patient.
Notably, our findings showed that not all policies implemented by states led to the same changes in prescription filling patterns.
Why it matters
Nearly 23 percent of adult U.S. citizens will have a diagnosable mental disorder in 2021. Only 65.4 percent of the adults in this group reported that they received treatment during the past 12 months. This lack in treatment can worsen mental health conditions, increasing the risk of developing additional chronic illnesses.
Access to marijuana may be easier for some patients than traditional prescription medications. Many state medical laws permit patients with mental disorders like post-traumatic anxiety disorder or PTSD to use medical marijuana, while recreational laws extend access to all adults.
Our findings have significant implications for insurance companies, prescribers policymakers, and patients. Benzodiazepine, as well as opioid, use can be dangerous to patients. This is especially true when both classes of drugs are taken together. Given the high level of opioid poisonings that also involve benzodiazepines—in 2020, they made up 14 percent of total opioid overdose deaths—our findings offer insights into potential substitution with marijuana for medications where misuse is plausible.
What we still don’t know
Our research has not clarified whether changes in the dispensing patterns have led to measurable improvements in patient outcomes.
Evidence suggests marijuana can be used as a treatment for anxiety. If this is the case, moving away from benzodiazepine use—which is associated with significant negative side effects—toward marijuana use may improve patient outcomes.
This is important, as benzodiazepines are prescribed to about 5 percent (or more) of the U.S. populace. The potential for fewer side effects is greater if marijuana were substituted, but the effectiveness of marijuana in treating anxiety has not been determined.
Our study also found evidence of a slight—albeit somewhat less significant—increase in antipsychotic and antidepressant dispensing. It’s still not clear whether recreational marijuana use, or even regular marijuana consumption, is associated with higher rates of depression and psychotic disorders.
As we speak, found Despite the fact that marijuana has been legalized in most states, there have been some decreases.
It’s possible some of the differences in state marijuana laws are causing these significant outcomes. This difference in results from state to states is important for policymakers, who may want their laws tailored to specific goals.
It is important to note that the word “you” means “you”. Research Brief This is a brief take on an interesting academic work.
Ashley Bradford Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
This article has been republished by The Conversation Creative Commons licensed. Read the original article.
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