Marijuana, being the illegal, Schedule 1, oft-demonised substance that it is, is hard for researchers to study. That's unfortunate, because there are many promising health benefits, and medical marijuana is legal in 28 states. Still, studies come through, one by one.
But even more conclusive than data studying the effects of marijuana on users is 10,000 studies on the effects of marijuana. (Math!) The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recently released a report that combed through more than 10,000 academic abstracts published since 1999.
The result was a 395-page report featuring nearly 100 conclusions about marijuana.
In lieu of listing all 100 conclusions, here's a brief summary of the biggest findings:
- Marijuana is a good treatment for chronic pain symptoms.
- Cannabis use increases the risk of motor vehicle accident.
- More research is needed to determine if cannabis is associated with death.
- Marijuana use is not linked to increase risk for cancers often caused by tobacco use, like lung cancer.
- Longterm marijuana use increases the risk of developing social anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, and depression (though depression to a lesser extent).
- There is not enough evidence linking cannabis to worse academic or educational achievement.
- Evidence does not suggest marijuana is a gateway drug.
There's more—lots more. You can read up on it here.
