Posted on February 13, 2025
Emeryville, CA: Counties with a high volume of marijuana retailers have reduced levels of opioid-related deaths and do not experience increases in either traffic-related fatalities or suicide, according to data published in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse.
A pair of researchers affiliated with the Public Health Institute in California assessed the relationship between cannabis retail store density and countywide mortality rates from suicide, motor vehicle accidents, opioid poisoning, homicide, and accidental poisonings in Washington state.
They reported, “Significant reductions in mortality rates were associated with increased county recreational cannabis store rates for both accidental poisonings and opioid poisoning deaths.”
Researchers theorized that these reductions “could be due to substitution of cannabis with opioids, alcohol and other drug use or quantities of use among those with heavy habitual use and use disorders.” Survey data published in November in The Harm Reduction Journal found that consumers frequently use cannabis as a substitute for other substances, including alcohol, methamphetamine, morphine, and tobacco.
Investigators did not find any correlation between retail store density and elevated rates of either motor vehicle accidents, homicide, or suicide.
The study’s authors concluded: “The results … do not provide any evidence of increased mortality associated with having more stores selling cannabis. … While these findings should be interpreted in the context of the broader literature on cannabis legalization, they are consistent with the possibility that increased access to legal cannabis reduced poisoning mortality in the first seven years of recreational stores operating in the state of Washington.”
Other studies have similarly documented an association between cannabis dispensaries and declines in opioid-related mortality, while assessments correlating adult-use marijuana access and motor vehicle accident trends have yielded less consistent results.
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