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Published: 10 September 2025

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Groundbreaking research from the Sorbonne has uncovered disturbing evidence linking youth marijuana suicide rates to regular cannabis consumption amongst teenagers. Furthermore, the study reveals that adolescent cannabis suicidal behaviours increase dramatically with marijuana use, even after accounting for existing mental health conditions.

Shocking Statistics Emerge: The French researchers discovered that young people who use marijuana face 46% higher odds of experiencing suicidal thoughts. Moreover, the cannabis-suicide connection becomes even more alarming when examining suicide attempts, with users showing 85% higher odds compared to non-users.

Significantly, the research methodology controlled for pre-existing depression, demonstrating that cannabis independently damages adolescent mental health. Consequently, these findings add to mounting evidence that adolescent cannabis suicidal ideation stems directly from marijuana consumption rather than underlying psychological conditions.

Prevention Becomes Critical: The Sorbonne study reinforces concerns about prevention strategies for at-risk teenagers. Additionally, previous research has established connections between cannabis use and severe mental health disorders, including schizophrenia. Therefore, experts emphasise that early intervention programmes targeting teenage substance use could prove vital in reducing tragic outcomes.

These alarming statistics suggest that addressing adolescent cannabis suicidal behaviours requires immediate action from parents, educators, and policymakers. Indeed, when youth marijuana suicide risks reach such concerning levels, prevention becomes a matter of life and death for vulnerable young people across communities nationwide. (Source: WRD News)

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Published: 10 September 2025

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Growing evidence suggests that cannabis immunotherapy risks may significantly compromise cancer treatment outcomes, according to a comprehensive new review by Australian medical cannabis advocate Dr Ben Jansen. Furthermore, his research poses a critical question that could reshape patient care protocols: “Are cannabinoids with cancer immunotherapy contributing to early death?”

Subsequently, Dr Jansen’s newly published study examines three key clinical trials that reveal troubling patterns in treatment effectiveness. Meanwhile, the findings challenge the widespread assumption that medical cannabis provides only benefits for cancer patients.

Personal Tragedy Drives Scientific Investigation

However, Dr Jansen’s investigation into medical marijuana treatment dangers stems from deeply personal circumstances surrounding his mother’s death from dementia. Moreover, he explained to Newsweek that discovering medicinal cannabis might have offered her relief motivated his advocacy work in the field.

“Over time, we’ve come to recognise the immunomodulatory properties of cannabinoids, which raised caution in my mind about their interaction with immune-based treatments,” Dr Jansen stated. Consequently, his concerns intensified when both the public and clinicians appeared unaware of potential cannabis immunotherapy risks.

Additionally, the issue “crystallised” during a public lecture when a patient questioned why her immunotherapy wasn’t working, only to reveal she had been taking high doses of medicinal cannabis.

Alarming Treatment Response Rates

Nevertheless, the first study Dr Jansen analysed compared patients receiving nivolumab immunotherapy alone with those combining the treatment with cannabis. In particular, the research examined 89 patients on nivolumab alone versus 51 patients using both treatments for advanced cancers including lung cancer, renal cell carcinoma, and melanoma.

The results revealed stark differences in treatment effectiveness, with cannabis users showing significantly lower response rates (15.9% versus 37.5%). Thus, patients using cannabis were approximately three times more likely to experience poor responses to immunotherapy, highlighting serious medical marijuana treatment dangers.

Importantly, whilst cannabis use didn’t significantly impact overall survival rates, the reduced treatment efficacy raises substantial concerns about therapeutic outcomes.

Shortened Survival Times Documented

Similarly, the second study examined 34 patients prescribed both immunotherapy and cannabis compared with 68 patients receiving cancer treatment alone. Furthermore, the findings revealed that tumours progressed much faster in cannabis users, typically within three-and-a-half months compared to over a year for patients on immunotherapy alone.

Moreover, the median overall survival time for cannabis users was dramatically shorter at 6.4 months compared to 28.5 months for non-users. Therefore, these statistics underscore the potential severity of cannabis immunotherapy risks for patient outcomes.

Comprehensive Analysis Confirms Concerns

Meanwhile, the third study investigated 105 patients with solid organ tumours receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors, with cannabis use primarily through prescribed dronabinol. Additionally, this research confirmed previous findings about medical marijuana treatment dangers.

Cannabis use was associated with significantly worse outcomes across multiple measures: shorter median overall survival (6.7 versus 17.3 months), reduced progression-free survival (4.8 versus 9.7 months), and markedly lower disease control rates (10.7% versus 37.7%).

Notably, these negative outcomes were most evident in white patients, suggesting potential ethnic variations in cannabinoid metabolism or immune response.

Complex Therapeutic Interactions

However, Dr Jansen acknowledges the inherent complexity of cannabis as a therapeutic agent when considering cannabis immunotherapy risks. Indeed, previous research has demonstrated that cannabis can suppress immune system function through active compounds including CBD, THC, and other cannabinoids.

Conversely, laboratory and living organism studies have suggested that cannabinoids can kill cancer cells and prevent spreading. Therefore, this paradox creates significant challenges for healthcare providers weighing treatment options whilst considering medical marijuana treatment dangers.

Clinical Recommendations and Future Research

Consequently, Dr Jansen emphasises the critical importance of informed patient consent regarding potential interactions. In addition, he advocates for more thorough research controlling variables such as cancer type, cannabis dosage, socio-economic status, and lifestyle factors.

When asked whether he would prescribe medical cannabis during immunotherapy, Dr Jansen responded definitively: “Absolutely” not, citing current evidence suggesting possible negative interactions.

Finally, until large, well-controlled trials provide clarity about cannabis immunotherapy risks, medical practitioners must carefully balance symptom management benefits against potential treatment compromise, ensuring patient safety remains the primary consideration.

Source: Newsweek

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Published: 05 September 2025

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A damning counter-policy response has exposed Australian cannabis legalisation proposals as a dangerous deception that would unleash devastating public health consequences. The comprehensive analysis of the Penington Cannabis Control Plan reveals how “health-first” rhetoric masks commercialisation that prioritises addiction-for-profit economics over genuine community wellbeing.

The document warns that cannabis control Australia advocates ignore overwhelming evidence from jurisdictions where legalisation has failed spectacularly. “Once a substance is trivialised, normalised, decriminalised, legalised then commercialised – harms will increase and the human cost in short and long-term harms, not least to the emerging generation will be incalculable,” the analysis states.

Devastating Health Evidence Ignored by Legalisation Advocates

Between 2019 and 2024, dozens of peer-reviewed medical journal population studies completed on massive populations, including 330 million US citizens from 50 states and significant populations from 14 European countries, confirm what has been known for decades: cannabis is mutagenic, carcinogenic and teratogenic.

The public health impacts revealed by these studies are substantial. Cannabis is shown to be causal in:

• 33 cancers compared to 16 for tobacco, where Cannabidiol (CBD) is the most carcinogenic cannabinoid at 12 cancers
• Cancers which make up 70% of paediatric cancer cases
• 90 birth defects out of 95 tracked in the European Union including hole in the heart, cleft lip/palate and limb deformities
• Autism, where CBD is once again heavily implicated
• Premature ageing of users by 30% at 30 years

“The studies show that cannabis provides a greater burden, in terms of cancers caused in a population, than either tobacco or alcohol,” the document states. Yet Australian cannabis legalisation proponents remain “culpably silent on the very real demonstrable costs that far outweigh its touted benefits.”

International Experience Proves Control Impossible

The analysis systematically demolishes claims that cannabis control Australia schemes can prevent harm. Evidence from legalised jurisdictions tells a different story entirely:

Cannabis Use Disorder is rising, with over 40% of schizophrenia cases in Canadian youth now linked to cannabis use. Emergency department visits among young people have surged post-legalisation in both Canada and parts of the US.

Criminal markets persist: In California, the black market remains larger than the legal one. In Oregon, cannabis-related organised crime and illegal grows have increased since Measure 110. In Colorado, youth access through diverted legal supply remains a top concern of police departments.

Regulation systematically fails: Age restrictions are routinely bypassed through social sourcing, straw purchasers, and online sales. In Colorado, over 40% of youth report accessing cannabis through someone else’s legal purchase. Potency limits are either unenforced or raised over time, under pressure from commercial operators seeking higher profits.

The document warns: “The idea that cannabis can be safely controlled through retail licensing ignores the reality of regulatory capture. As with tobacco and alcohol, once an addictive industry is legalised, it does not stay in its lane.”

Economic Claims Exposed as Fraudulent

Australian cannabis legalisation advocates suggest the policy will generate tax revenue, create jobs, and reduce enforcement costs. The document exposes these claims as “economically optimistic, but empirically empty.”

The data shows:

• In California, legal operators are going bankrupt due to price collapse and black market competition
• In Canada, tax revenues from cannabis make up less than 0.4% of total federal revenue, while mental health and healthcare costs continue to rise
• A 2024 cost-benefit analysis found that for every dollar earned in cannabis tax revenue, up to $4.50 is spent on downstream public costs, including healthcare, road trauma, regulation, and lost productivity

The analysis notes that 43% or $59 billion of Australia’s total $137 billion smoking-related costs in 2015/16 came from cancers alone. With cannabis causing more cancers than tobacco, these costs would escalate dramatically under Australian cannabis legalisation.

“Legalisation does create jobs — mostly in marketing, lobbying, and packaging — but these come at the cost of public health and workforce reliability,” the document states. “Youth daily use increases, absenteeism rises, and workplace accidents become more frequent in states and provinces that legalise.”

Australia’s Failed Medical Cannabis Framework Signals Disaster

The document highlights how Australia’s existing ‘Vote for Medicine’ framework demonstrates regulatory failure, describing it as “a very thin facade of medical legitimacy tasked to facilitate recreational use to growing numbers of uninformed customers.” This system serves as “a clear harbinger of only further harms that will be precipitated by the expansion and repetition of these current failed regulation protocols.”

Prevention Framework Offers Real Solutions

Rather than pursuing cannabis control Australia policies that have failed elsewhere, the analysis advocates for proven prevention and recovery models:

• Wandoo Rehabilitation Prison’s sub-1% recidivism rate
• Kenton County’s two-phase Strong Start program, which slashed reoffending by over 60%
• Portsmouth, Ohio models showing whole-of-community recovery through integrated housing, employment pathways, trauma-informed counselling, and wraparound services

The document emphasises that “the only model that manages to achieve control outcomes has been the QUIT campaign on Tobacco. The gold standard of ‘denormalisation’ is the key. All media, education, government and health policies and practices have only One Focus, One Message and One Voice – QUIT.”

A Philosophy of Managed Despair

The analysis delivers a devastating verdict on Australian cannabis legalisation: “It has become a philosophy of surrender, where managed despair is mistaken for compassion and policy ambitions have shrunk to keeping people alive in misery rather than enabling them to live with dignity and hope.”

The document concludes: “What Australia needs is not a Cannabis Control Plan, but a Cannabis Prevention and Recovery Framework” that centres on evidence-based prevention, structured diversion programs, and genuine recovery support rather than commercial normalisation of an addictive psychotropic substance.

Australia faces a clear choice: repeat the devastating mistakes of other jurisdictions that prioritised industry profits over public health, or choose evidence-based prevention that protects future generations from avoidable harm.

Source: Dalgarno Institute

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Published: 05 September 2025

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A comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis has revealed alarming evidence of cannabis and suicide risk that persists even when depression is controlled for in research studies. The landmark study, published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence, examined over 1,000 articles across major databases and included 25 studies in its systematic review, providing the most thorough analysis to date of the relationship between cannabis use and suicidal behaviours.

The findings challenge assumptions about the role of depression in cannabis-related suicidal behaviour, demonstrating that marijuana suicidal behaviour connections exist independently of depressive symptoms. This research carries significant implications as cannabis becomes increasingly normalised and legalised across the globe, yet its full impact on mental health remains poorly understood.

Significant Cannabis and Suicide Risk Identified Across Age Groups

The meta-analysis revealed consistent patterns of elevated cannabis and suicide risk across different populations. Among adolescents, cannabis use showed a 46% increased likelihood of suicidal ideation and an 85% higher risk of suicide attempts compared to non-users, even after controlling for depression. These statistics represent substantial increases in danger for young people who use cannabis.

Adult populations demonstrated even more concerning patterns of marijuana suicidal behaviour. Adults who used cannabis faced a 78% increased likelihood of suicidal ideation compared to non-users, again with depression factors already accounted for in the analysis. These findings suggest that cannabis suicide risk affects individuals across the lifespan, not merely vulnerable adolescent populations.

The research examined 240,000 suspected opioid overdoses that Canadian paramedics responded to between 2017 and 2024, with more than 50,000 proving fatal. However, the study’s focus on cannabis specifically reveals additional layers of substance-related mental health dangers that extend beyond opioid crises.

Depression Does Not Fully Explain Marijuana Suicidal Behaviour

One of the study’s most significant findings concerns the role of depression in cannabis suicide risk. Whilst depression has long been considered a primary factor linking cannabis use to suicidal thoughts and behaviours, this research demonstrates that the relationship persists even when depressive symptoms are statistically controlled.

The researchers found that depression may partially confound the association between cannabis use and suicidality, but does not entirely explain it. This suggests that cannabis use poses an independent risk factor for suicidal thoughts and behaviours, separate from its known associations with depressive disorders.

Nearly half of the studies examined found no significant relationship between cannabis use and suicidality after adjusting for depression, highlighting the complex and nuanced nature of this evidence. However, the overall pattern clearly demonstrates elevated marijuana suicidal behaviour risks that cannot be attributed solely to depressive symptoms.

Mechanisms Behind Cannabis Suicide Risk

The research identified several potential mechanisms that could explain the independent cannabis suicide risk observed in the studies. Cannabis use may serve as a form of self-medication for individuals experiencing mental health difficulties, potentially worsening their condition over the long term rather than providing genuine relief.

Cannabis use has also been found to lower the effectiveness of antidepressants, potentially increasing suicide risk among individuals receiving treatment for depression. This interaction effect suggests that marijuana suicidal behaviour patterns may be particularly dangerous for those already receiving mental health treatment.

Heavy cannabis use shows associations with increased impulsivity, which researchers suggest could contribute to higher suicide risk. This impulsivity factor represents another pathway through which cannabis suicide risk may operate independently of depression, affecting decision-making capabilities during crisis moments.

Inconsistent Evidence on Depression as a Moderator

The research examined whether depression might moderate the relationship between cannabis use and suicidal behaviours, potentially making marijuana suicidal behaviour more likely among individuals already experiencing depressive symptoms. However, the findings proved inconsistent and inconclusive.

Six studies investigated depression’s potential moderating role, with four reporting significant but conflicting results. Among adolescents, one study found that those with both cannabis use disorder and depression had higher odds of attempting suicide than those with cannabis use disorder alone. However, another study found that cannabis suicide risk was only significant among adolescents with no history of depression.

Adult studies showed slightly more consistency, with two suggesting that the association between cannabis use and suicidality was stronger among adults with major depressive disorder. However, a third study found no statistically significant differences between depressed and non-depressed adults regarding marijuana suicidal behaviour patterns.

Critical Research Gaps in Cannabis Suicide Risk

The systematic review revealed significant gaps in current research on cannabis suicide risk that limit comprehensive understanding of these relationships. No observational quantitative studies investigated the potential mediating role of depression in the relationship between cannabis use and suicidal behaviours.

Most studies included in the analysis were cross-sectional rather than longitudinal, making it difficult to establish causal relationships or understand the temporal sequence of cannabis use, depression onset, and suicidal behaviour development. This limitation prevents researchers from determining whether cannabis use leads to increased suicide risk or whether individuals at higher suicide risk are more likely to use cannabis.

The research also highlighted insufficient investigation of suicide attempts among adults, with most adult-focused studies examining only suicidal ideation. This gap represents a significant limitation in understanding the full scope of marijuana suicidal behaviour across different age groups and types of suicidal behaviour.

Publication Bias and Quality Concerns

The analysis identified concerning evidence of publication bias in cannabis suicide risk research, with funnel plots and statistical tests suggesting that studies with non-significant results may be underrepresented in the published literature. This bias could potentially overestimate the strength of associations between cannabis use and suicidal behaviours.

Quality assessments revealed additional concerns about the robustness of existing research. Many studies received only medium-quality ratings due to reliance on self-reported variables, small sample sizes, high attrition rates, or limited covariate adjustment. These methodological limitations reduce confidence in individual study findings.

The heterogeneity of adjustment variables across studies complicated meta-analysis efforts, as researchers chose to include only studies with sufficient comparability. This selection process may have introduced additional bias whilst attempting to ensure meaningful statistical comparison of marijuana suicidal behaviour across different research contexts.

Implications for Public Health Policy

The findings carry major public health implications, particularly given ongoing debates about cannabis legalisation in many countries. The evidence that cannabis suicide risk persists independently of depression suggests that cannabis use should be viewed as a direct risk factor for suicidal behaviours, not merely a consequence of underlying mental health conditions.

The research challenges common assumptions about cannabis as a form of self-medication, suggesting that such use may have unanticipated negative consequences for individuals experiencing mental health difficulties. This finding has particular relevance for countries where cannabis self-medication is common or promoted as a treatment approach.

Healthcare providers should be aware that standard depression screening and treatment may not fully address marijuana suicidal behaviour risks among cannabis users. Additional screening and intervention strategies may be necessary to identify and address elevated suicide risk in this population.

The study’s authors emphasise the need for evidence-based mental health programmes rather than well-intentioned but ineffective interventions. Fewer than 10 mental health programmes marketed to Canadian governments out of 300 total possessed evidence demonstrating their effectiveness, highlighting the importance of rigorous evaluation in addressing cannabis suicide risk.

Future Research Priorities

The researchers identified several critical priorities for advancing understanding of cannabis suicide risk. Longitudinal studies with multiple time points are essential for establishing temporal relationships between cannabis use, depression onset, and suicidal behaviour development.

Investigation of comorbid mental health conditions beyond depression could help clarify whether other psychiatric disorders confound, mediate, or moderate the association between cannabis use and suicidality. Cannabis use shows systematic associations with bipolar, borderline, and psychotic disorders, all of which correlate with both depression and suicidality.

Research should also examine dose-dependent relationships between cannabis use frequency and marijuana suicidal behaviour, as most existing studies used binary cannabis use variables that may obscure important variations in risk based on consumption patterns. Understanding these relationships could inform more targeted prevention and intervention strategies. (Source: WRD News)