Study: suicide rates fall when states legalize medical marijuana

A University of Colorado economics professor has co-authored a study, just released by the Institute for the Study of Labor in Bonn, Germany, that concludes that suicide rates among young males decline markedly after states legalize medical marijuana. Professors at Montana State University and San Diego State University were also involved in the study. The study is titled “High on Life: Medical Marijuana Laws and Suicide.”

CU economics professor Daniel Rees is co-author of a study which concludes that passage of medical marijuana laws leads to a decrease in suicides among young men. (Image: CU Denver)

CU Denver professor Daniel Rees and his coauthors don’t say conclusively why suicide rates fall. They offer evidence that marijuana acts as an antidepressant when used moderately, but also note that using marijuana in larger amounts can actually lead to depression. They also note that the sale of alcohol to young males declines in states that legalize medical marijuana and note that alcohol is a known depressant the use of which can lead to suicidal thoughts. Rees did not return a phone call seeking comment. From the study:

Using state-level data for the period 1990 through 2007, we estimate the effect of legalizing medical marijuana on suicide rates. Our results suggest that the passage of a medical marijuana law is associated with an almost 5 percent reduction in the total suicide rate, an 11 percent reduction in the suicide rate of 20- through 29-year-old males, and a 9 percent reduction in the suicide rate of 30- through 39-year-old males. … We conclude that the legalization of medical marijuana leads to an improvement in the psychological wellbeing of young adult males, an improvement that is reflected in fewer suicides. … In an often-cited article, Hamermesh and Soss (1974) argued that negative shocks to happiness may reduce expected lifetime utility to the point where an individual will decide to take his or her own life. The negative relationship between legalization and suicides among young adult males is consistent with the argument that marijuana can be used to cope with such shocks. However, estimates provided by Anderson et al. (2011) provide an alternative explanation. These authors found that the passage of MMLs (medical marijuana laws) led to sharp decreases in alcohol-related traffic fatalities, self-reported alcohol use, and per capita beer sales. The strong association between alcohol consumption and suicide related outcomes found by previous researchers (Markowitz et al. 2003; Carpenter 2004; Sullivan et al. 2004; Rodriguez Andres 2005; Carpenter and Dobkin 2009) raises the possibility that medical marijuana laws reduce the risk of suicide by decreasing alcohol consumption. Speaking recently at the University of Denver, Amanda Reiman, Ph.D, the director of research at the Berkeley Patients Group and a lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley, said that marijuana has medical value even for people not suffering from one of the ailments that medical marijuana laws typically allow people to use marijuana for. “We deontologically believe that drug use is inherently wrong, which is why it is hard for us to believe there are responsible users. Do you really have to be sick to get benefit from cannabis?” she asked rhetorically. She said that when you ask people why they smoke marijuana, the most common answer is that it helps them relax. “The word medical is redundant when talking about cannabis. Relaxation itself is medicinal.” Reiman’s words were echoed on the DU panel by University of California law professor Marsha Cohen, who said that when asked why they smoke marijuana, people answer, “‘It makes me feel better.’ That makes it medicinal use,” she said.

Mason Tvert, executive director of SAFER (Safer Alternative for Recreational Enjoyment) and one of the organizers of a ballot initiative to regulate marijuana like alcohol, which will probably be on the Colorado ballot in November, said he was not surprised by the study’s conclusions. “We know marijuana has medicinal value, and we know that people living with pain sometimes kill themselves,” Tvert said. He added that the connection with alcohol use was intriguing. “Every credible study ever done proves that marijuana is safer than alcohol,” he said.

California and New Mexico Uniting on Legalization

It is rare for a politician to openly advocate the legalization of drugs as the solution to the country’s drug problem. But that’s just what California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson did this week at the four-day International Drug Policy Reform Conference in downtown Los Angeles.

As the Los Angeles Times remarks, with reggae music blasting and people wearing marijuana leaf-shaped pins, the conference does not seem a likely event for a GOP presidential hopeful to attend. And yet, Republican candidate Johnson, a libertarian often compared to Ron Paul, stood in front of the conference audience and promised that if he was elected president, he would fully pardon anyone in prison for a non-violent marijuana crime.

According to the LA Times, Johnson has been calling for the legalization of marijuana since 1999:

He says he smoked marijuana recreationally when he was younger, and used it more recently to help with the pain after a paragliding accident in 2005. Wherever he goes, Johnson says, people point and say: “That’s the marijuana guy.” In a recent magazine interview, Johnson said marijuana smokers may be “the largest untapped voting bloc in the country.”
On Thursday, Johnson referred to a Gallup poll saying, “Fifty percent of Americans support legalizing marijuana.. But zero percent of the universe of politicians support this.” His position in stark contrast to other Republican candidates, Johnson said, “They [Republicans] all talk about border violence and adding guns to the equation instead of looking at the root of the problem, which is prohibition.”

According to Intersections South LA, Lt. Gov. Newsom said in his remarks that California is “a state of dreamers, of doers, of entrepreneurs, of innovators” and will “certainly be on the front lines of reconciling the abject failure that has been 40 years, this failed war on drugs.” He argued that the failure of national drug policy is reflected in the tripling of prison populations over the past two decades and the strain that’s caused on government’s budget.

Newsom revealed to the crowd that many politicians believe in legalization but are afraid to voice that position, Intersections South LA reports. “My gosh, if I could just tape-record the private conversations, it would just break your heart,” Newsom said. “We know better, we’re just not doing better.”

The conference is taking place Wednesday through Saturday at the Westin Bonaventure in downtown LA.

Barney Frank (D) Boston

“The argument that federal policy should not be changed because no one actually enforces marijuana laws usually comes from older white people. No one enforces it against them, but there were more than 50,000 marijuana possession arrests in New York City last year,” Frank said. “Some say it’s a good way to go after potential criminals and cuts the murder rate. But the notion that you can justify arresting a whole lot of people for something not harmful just because a small number of them may have done something wrong is antithetical to the very notion of justice.”

If the government wants to discourage marijuana use, criminalizing it does not serve that end., Frank said. He compared marijuana to tobacco, arguing that when the adverse effects of tobacco became known, the government did not ban it. Instead, it embarked on an extensive public health campaign, highlighting the dangers of the product. Further, marijuana use is a victimless crime, in that it involves voluntary behavior and produces no “victim” who would report it to the police, which is why prohibition is ineffective. He explained that marijuana use is far less likely to harm others than the use of other legal substances.