Cannabis prevention is suicide prevention

Abstract

An article in Psychiatric News published in January summed up mounting evidence linking the use of cannabis by young people to depression and suicide. Quoting experts from the annual meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), the article looks at the expanded types of products, increasing potency, and legalization are contributing to “unprecedented exposure to young people during a critical period of brain development,” said Jesse D. Hinckley, M.D., associate clinical professor of psychiatry and co-founder of the addiction biology laboratory at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, at the meeting. “Cannabis prevention and early intervention are suicide prevention,” Hinckley said. “There's an even greater need for these programs in states that have passed recreational or medical cannabis laws, where youth cannabis use is more prevalent.”