Canadian study finds lesbian, gay and bisexual youth with depression more likely to increase cannabis use

published on July 20, 2021 by Angela Stelmakowich in Regina Leader-Post

A Quebec researcher looking at mental health and cannabis among young people found the association between depression and greater weed use was markedly higher in lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) than heterosexual youth.

LGB youth were more likely to use more cannabis “following an increase in their symptoms of depression,” notes a Université de Montréal statement.

“Although there was an association between depressive symptoms at age 15 and increased cannabis use at age 17 in the general sample, the association was five times stronger among LGB youth,” the university reports.

Kira London-Nadeau, a doctoral student in the university’s Department of Psychology, suggests this relationship may signal a practice of LGB youth self-medicating with cannabis to cope with depressive symptoms…

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