Boulder, CO: Cannabis use is not associated with an increased risk of later life suicidality in high-risk young adults, according to longitudinal data published in the journal Addictive Behaviors Reports.
Investigators affiliated with the University of Colorado at Boulder assessed the relationship between substance use and suicidality in a cohort of high-risk adolescent siblings. Study participants were assessed at age 17 and again at ages 24 and 30.
“There was little evidence of an association between suicidality and any substance use examined in the present study, with the possible exception of tobacco use,” the study’s authors concluded. “Cannabis use did not show a consistent association with cross-sectional or later life suicidality in this high-risk sample.”
Separate data published earlier this year reported no increase in “emergency department presentations for suicidal ideation and attempts” in Canada following adult-use cannabis legalization.
Research published by the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that “suicide rates among older age groups declined [in the United States] following the opening of recreational marijuana dispensaries.”
Full text of the study, “Associations between cannabis use frequency and suicidal thoughts and behaviors: A clinical longitudinal sibling study,” appears in Addictive Behavior Reports.