Association of Cannabis Use in Adolescence and Risk of Depression, Anxiety, and Suicidality in Young Adulthood: A…
My teenager is using cannabis — what does the depression and suicide-risk evidence mean for them specifically, and what should we do about it now?
Well-supported by good-quality research. how we score evidence
Caveat on this rating: One co-author (Ware) became an employee of Canopy Growth Corporation, a licensed cannabis producer, after the work was completed, and the senior author discloses an unrelated cannabidiol grant involving Aurora Cannabis; both were disclosed. The pooled estimates come from observational studies, so residual confounding by shared risk factors for cannabis use and depression cannot be excluded.
Botanical cannabis has never been FDA-approved for any psychiatric indication.
Pooling 11 longitudinal studies covering 23,317 people, cannabis use before age 18 was associated with modestly higher odds of major depression in young adulthood (OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.16-1.62) and of suicidal ideation (OR 1.50, 1.11-2.03) and suicide attempt (OR 3.46, 1.53-7.84); the association with anxiety was not statistically significant (OR 1.18, 0.84-1.67). Individual-level risk is moderate to low, but the authors note that at population scale this translates into a large number of affected young people.
Worth asking
My teenager is using cannabis — what does the depression and suicide-risk evidence mean for them specifically, and what should we do about it now?
Source
Association of Cannabis Use in Adolescence and Risk of Depression, Anxiety, and Suicidality in Young Adulthood: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. — Gobbi G, Atkin T, Zytynski T, et al. (2019)
Top-tier peer-reviewed journal
Read the source: https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.4500
DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.4500
How this was scored
- Study design
- Systematic review of observational studies
- Funding
- Independently funded
- Published in
- Top-tier peer-reviewed journal
- Sample size
- 23,317
- Preregistered
- No
- Conflicts disclosed
- Yes
- Independent of proponent
- Yes
- Retracted
- No
Read the full scoring rubric, including what it can't tell you.
Published August 19, 2026.
Where we put this study in context
Questions
How strong is the evidence behind this?
Resolv rates this source "strong evidence". Well-supported by good-quality research. It scores 83 out of 100 on our published rubric. One caveat travels with that badge: One co-author (Ware) became an employee of Canopy Growth Corporation, a licensed cannabis producer, after the work was completed, and the senior author discloses an unrelated cannabidiol grant involving Aurora Cannabis; both were disclosed. The pooled estimates come from observational studies, so residual confounding by shared risk factors for cannabis use and depression cannot be excluded. The score is calculated from recorded facts about the source — study design, funding, publication venue, sample size, preregistration — not typed in by an editor.
What is the source for this?
Association of Cannabis Use in Adolescence and Risk of Depression, Anxiety, and Suicidality in Young Adulthood: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. — Gobbi G, Atkin T, Zytynski T, et al. (2019). Published in: Top-tier peer-reviewed journal. DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.4500. The full source is linked on this page so you can read it yourself.
Who paid for this research, and does that matter?
Study design: Systematic review of observational studies. Funding: Independently funded. The researchers were independent of whoever benefits from the result. Industry sponsorship is one of the most reliably measured biases in medicine, which is why funding carries real weight in the score rather than sitting in a footnote.
Is cannabis-thc, marijuana, weed, thc, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, medical cannabis, dronabinol, nabiximols FDA approved for this use?
No. Its current status is: Not FDA-evaluated for this use. Botanical cannabis has never been FDA-approved for any psychiatric indication.
Is this medical advice?
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.