As more Americans have access to legalized marijuana, fewer Americans are picking up prescriptions for anti-anxiety medications, a brand new study finds

In states where each medical and recreational marijuana are legal, fewer patients are filling prescriptions for medications to treat anxiety. That means the crucial insight my recent study, published within the journal JAMA Network Open.

I’m a Applied policy researcher which examines the economics of dangerous behavior and substance use within the United States. My colleagues and I wanted to know how medical and recreational marijuana laws and the opening of marijuana dispensaries have affected the speed at which patients fill prescriptions for anti-anxiety medications with private health insurers.

This includes:

• Benzodiazepineswhich work by increasing the extent Gamma-aminobutyric acid or GABAa neurotransmitter that produces a relaxing effect by reducing activity within the nervous system. This category includes the depressants Valium, Xanax and Ativan.

• Antipsychoticsa category of medicines that combat symptoms of psychosis in quite a lot of ways.

• Antidepressantsrelieve symptoms of depression by affecting neurotransmitters corresponding to serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine. The best-known example of that is selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors SSRIs.

We also included Barbituratesthese are sedatives and sleeping pills – sometimes called “Z-drugs”. – each are used to treat insomnia. Unlike the opposite three categories, we didn’t estimate policy implications for any of those drug types.

We find consistent evidence that increased access to marijuana is related to reductions in benzodiazepine prescription quantities. “Fills” refers back to the variety of prescriptions picked up by patients and never the variety of prescriptions filled by physicians. This relies on calculating the speed of individual patient prescription fills in a state, average days of supply per prescription fill, and average prescription fills per patient.

Specifically, we found that not all state policies resulted in similar changes in prescription filling patterns.

Why it matters

In 2021, almost 23% of the US adult population reported affected by a diagnosable mental disorder. Yet only 65.4% of those individuals reported receiving treatment prior to now yr. This lack of treatment can worsen and result in current mental health disorders increased risk of other chronic diseases.

Access to marijuana represents another treatment to traditional prescription medications which will provide easier access for some patients. Many state medical laws allow patients with mental disorders corresponding to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). use medical cannabiswhile recreational laws expand access to all adults.

Our findings have essential implications for insurance systems, prescribers, policymakers, and patients. Use of benzodiazepines, like use of opioids, will be dangerous for patients, especially when the 2 classes of medication are used together. Given the high variety of opioid poisonings involving benzodiazepines, they caught up in 2020 14% of all opioid overdose deaths – Our results provide insights into the possible substitution of marijuana for medications where abuse is plausible.

What isn’t yet known

Our research doesn’t make clear whether the changes in delivery patterns resulted in measurable changes in patient outcomes.

There is evidence that marijuana… effective anxiety treatment. If that is the case, it is sensible to stop using benzodiazepines associated with significant negative unwanted effects – Marijuana use can improve patient outcomes.

Given this, this finding is crucial 5% of the US population Benzodiazepines are prescribed. Substitution with marijuana could end in fewer negative unwanted effects nationwide, nevertheless it isn’t yet clear whether marijuana can be equally effective in treating anxiety.

Our study also found evidence of a slight – although barely less important – increase within the shelling out of antipsychotics and antidepressants. But it’s not clear But whether access to marijuana, particularly access to recreational activities, increases the incidence of psychotic disorders and depression.

While we found that access to marijuana led to increased use of antidepressants and antipsychotics overall, some individual states saw decreases.

There are wide variations in the main points of state marijuana laws, and it is feasible that a few of these details result in these meaningful differences in results. I imagine this difference in results from state to state is a very important insight for policymakers who will want to tailor their laws to specific goals.