HIGH PERCENTAGE OF YOUTH SUICIDES IN COLORADO INVOLVE MARIJUANA
1/3/2018 Statistics and Toxicology Reports Reveal Marijuana — Suicide Link
The increasing number of youth suicides seems to be tied to two factors, bullying and marijuana. Although bullying may be a reason that youth turn to marijuana, in doesn’t resolve the underlying issues making them depressed or upset. The outcomes for trying to resolve such issues using marijuana are very poor, and in fact marijuana usually makes problems much worse.
Colorado has tracked suicides before and after legalization, and policy makers should be alarmed by the results.
The numbers show an increasing number of suicides by year and by age group. The youngest group (10 — 14 yo) have increased nearly 270% from 2005-08 to 2013-16. The next age group (15 — 19 years) increased by 133% over the same period. The 20-24 years group increased by 128% over the same time period. All of these jumps are very significant.
| Total Number of CO Suicides by 4 Yr Blocks and Age | ||||
| Total | 10-14 yo | 15-19 yo | 20-24 yo | |
| 2005-2008 (4 yrs) | 3108 | 23 | 169 | 273 |
| 2009-2012 (4 yrs) | 3674 | 45 | 171 | 294 |
| 2013-2016 (4 yrs) | 4265 | 62 | 225 | 350 |
| 2009 = Yr Med MJ Commercialization (legal sales) started | ||||
| 2013 = Yr Recreational MJ sales started | ||||
This Graph Demonstrates Clear Relationship Between Cannabis Legalization and Suicide Rates
Note in the below graph that suicide rates were falling in Colorado prior
to medical marijuana legalization. Then they started to rise. They fell off slightly but then skyrocketed when Colorado voters decided to green light the recreational marijuana industry.
The percent of marijuana found in bodies of all suicide victims DOUBLED (from 8.1% prior to legal mj sale, 8.7% during the years of medical mj sales, TO 16% in recreational mj sales years) since recreational sales of marijuana started in 2013 from the preceding two time frames. THIS should be extremely concerning…. Yet legislators are plowing ahead ….
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Toxicology on kids with completed suicide from Colorado 2004-2015 (no data for ’16, ’17).
One scientific study shows the risk of suicide amongst heavy teen marijuana users is around nearly 7x greater than non-users.
For complete article http://www.poppot.org/2018/03/01/high-percentage-of-youth-suicides-in-colorado-involve-marijuana/