New Research Shows Link Between Marijuana and Youth Suicide - Legalization would be devastating for Wyoming

Kevin was 15 years old when he started a dangerous habit: smoking marijuana.

Habit turned to dependency, which morphed into stints in rehabilitation and hospitalizations. It got to the point where Kevin was spending several hundred dollars a week on high-potency marijuana. A warning: What follows is a tragic story involving self-harm.

At one point, Kevin confessed that marijuana had "ruined his life."

Those words turned out to be prophetic: Kevin overdosed on pills but survived. He tried to hang himself. He attempted to drown himself. Finally, in his 20s, he placed a plastic bag over his head and inhaled nitrous oxide until he asphyxiated and died.

His grieving mother said, "If we can convince one parent—to educate them so they can hopefully save their son or daughter—it will all be worth it, because it doesn't make sense to lose our children to marijuana."

This isn't only a tragic story from another state that legalized marijuana. It's the tip of the awful iceberg that is marijuana. A just published study shows that so-called "medical" marijuana and so-called "recreational" marijuana are associated with increased suicides among female youth and 14- to 16-year-old teenagers of both genders.

Think about what the legalization of marijuana would mean for Wyoming, where the mind-altering drug remains illegal. If pro-pot forces have their way—and they've been trying for years—marijuana will become legal in Wyoming as medical marijuana or, worse yet, as adult-use marijuana as well.

And Wyoming already struggles with one of the highest suicide rates in the nation.

First, though, about the recent study: The researchers noted that marijuana use is already associated with suicides of teenagers and adults. But "little is known about the impact of medical marijuana legalization (MML) and recreational marijuana legalization (RML) policies on youth suicide," according to the study, which was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

As a result, the researchers examined 20 years of data, from 2000 to 2019, from the National Vital Statistics death files on youth suicides, "to determine whether medical and recreational marijuana laws were associated with the rates of suicide deaths in US youth aged 12 to 25."

The result: [B]oth medical and recreational marijuana laws were associated with increased suicide deaths in female youth across all age groups as well as for 14- to-16-year-old male youth."

The implications are staggering—and there is absolutely no question that the legalization of marijuana, combined with the link to youth suicides, is devastating for all states, including our own.

Consider this: Someone in Wyoming dies by suicide about once every 60 hours, according to the Wyoming Department of Health. Between 2010 and 2020, 1,623 people in Wyoming killed themselves. More than 15 percent involved people who were 10 to 24 years old.

Recent data, in September, showed some improvement. For the first time in six years, Wyoming did not own the highest suicide rate in the nation. But it was still alarmingly high at 26.66 per 100,000 residents. Only Montana and Alaska had slightly higher rates.

It's vital that we don't make matters worse. And marijuana would make things worse.

Take, for instance, this chilling reminder in another recently published study: "There is a growing body of evidence pointing to the co-occurrence of cannabis use and depression. There is also some evidence that the use of cannabis may lead to the onset of depression; however, strong evidence points to the inverse association; i.e. that depression may lead to the onset or increase in cannabis use frequency."

Either way, it's not good. The upshot: Marijuana could push someone further into despair.

Pot also has been linked to other serious mental health conditions. "Marijuana use may trigger schizophrenia or detachment from reality (psychosis) in people who are at higher risk of psychosis," according to a board-certified doctor in general psychiatry and addiction psychiatry who serves on the Mayo Clinic's staff. "The symptoms of diagnosed psychotic illness may be aggravated if marijuana use continues."

How, then, can anyone contemplate the legalization of marijuana for Wyoming—or anywhere else, for that matter? Don't we have an obligation to protect our youth? To protect our citizens—our neighbors—from the dangers of marijuana?

If you, or anyone you know, is struggling, the Wyoming Department of Health encourages you to call or text 988, or "chat online at 988Lifeline.org—to connect with care and support during a mental health or substance use crisis."

But let's not let it get to that crisis point. Let's ensure, in the first place, that marijuana doesn't get in the door.