According to the results of a newly released study, patients suffering from chronic health conditions report improvements in their mental health following the enactment of laws granting access to medical marijuana.
The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Cambridge in the UK and the University of Basel in Switzerland, and it was published in the journal Health Economics, Policy, and Law.
“The consequences of legal access to medical marijuana for individuals’ well-being are controversially assessed”, states the study. “We contribute to the discussion by evaluating the impact of the introduction of medical marijuana laws across US states on self-reported mental health considering different motives for cannabis consumption.”
The analysis used for the study is based on BRFSS (Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System) survey data from close to eight million respondents between 1993 and 2018 that researchers combined with information from the NSDUH (National Survey on Drug Use and Health) to estimate individual consumption propensities.
“We find that eased access to marijuana through medical marijuana laws reduce the reported number of days with poor mental health for individuals with a high propensity to consume marijuana for medical purposes and for those individuals who likely suffer from frequent pain”, states the study.
“Overall, our results are in line with the hypothesis that MMLs [medical marijuana laws] benefit those individuals for whom they are nominally designed without systematically harming other groups.”
For more information on this study, click here.
