Ashley Bradford writes an article on PsyPost about her recent study publication about this phenomena. She notes that in states where cannabis has been legalized, the prescription refill rate of specific medications to treat anxiety have reduced. This includes benzos, antipsychotics, and antidepressants, among other medications. This is significant due to the lower harm of cannabis when it comes to addiction and overdose. Cannabis itself is not physically addictive in the way we think about opioids and benzos. It also is extremely unlikely to cause an overdose due to the threshold required.
The DEA reports no cannabis overdoses have been confirmed. They use the term marijuana, which is the improper slang term used to tie cannabis use to Hispanic people and stoke fears of xenophobia. Cannabis has a bad reputation for a drug that is no longer taught by D.A.R.E. to be a gateway drugs, even if they claim it never was called this. The only gateway that cannabis provided to other drugs was that it was sold by the same people due to its illegal nature. This might also be why it was associated with Latin and Hispanic gang activity and violence.
It would seem that legalizing this horrid substance has only had the effect of reducing more harmful, but legal, substances from being prescribed to people with anxiety. Benzodiazepines are one of the only withdrawals that can kill a person without medical intervention. They can make a person dependent on them and even worsen the anxiety due to the reinforcing nature of these medications to make you depend on them. Legalizing a substance that doesn’t kill people and reduces the need for medications that can kill people seems like a smart choice to me.
A good question might be when will insurance be willing to pay for cannabis? If they were willing to pay for cannabis, would the market prices get too expensive? How would politics deal with these issues? Why are people in prison for cannabis possession when states have legalized it? When will the federal government listen to research to support its citizens and reduce harm that has been caused through systemic targeting of cannabis under the name marijuana?
I honestly did not always feel this way about cannabis due to working in abstinence-only programs for so long. However, the research backs the legalization if not merely decriminalization of cannabis and psychedelics. It has been hard to ignore the growth of understanding in the recovery world. I do not believe all people in recovery should use cannabis. In fact, I encourage those in recovery not to. But if it keeps you alive long enough to get help and stay sober, stay alive. If substance use ever sends you back to your drug of choice, this is not the path for you. It is too dangerous. Make your own decisions with your support system who knows you best.