Legal Marijuana Linked To Drop In Anxiety Medications: What It Means For Pharma Giants

In states where both medical and recreational marijuana are legal, patients are filling fewer prescriptions for medications commonly used to treat anxiety, according to a recent study published in JAMA Network Open.

The findings consistently showed that increased access to marijuana correlates with reductions in benzodiazepine prescription fills, which refer to the number of prescriptions picked up by patients, not the number written by doctors.

Lead author Ashley Bradford, PhD, of the Georgia Institute of Technology, noted that the research is particularly relevant given that nearly 23% of U.S. adults reported having a diagnosable mental health disorder in 2021, but only 65% of them received treatment.

Expanding cannabis access offers an alternative treatment avenue, especially as many state medical marijuana laws allow patients with mental health conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to use medical cannabis. The Food and Drug Administration approved a clinical trial in November 2024 to assess the efficacy of smoked medical marijuana in treating PTSD among military veterans.

The findings have significant implications for insurance providers, prescribers, patients and pharmaceutical companies that produce benzodiazepines, which, like opioids, carry risks. In 2020, benzodiazepines contributed to 14% of total opioid overdose deaths, said Bradford, who added that the substitution of marijuana for medications with high misuse potential could also have far-reaching public health benefits.

Could Cannabis For Anxiety Cut Into Big Pharma's Bottom Line?

Bradford’s research focused on medications like Valium, Xanax and Ativan, which are brand names for diazepam, alprazolam and lorazepam, respectively. Xanax and Lorazepam are produced by Pfizer, Inc. PFE and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, which Pfizer acquired in 2009.

The most common drug, Valium, produced by the Hoffmann-La Roche pharmaceutical company – now Roche Holdings RHHBY  – was introduced in 1963 and gained popularity as a sedative almost immediately. Between 1969 and 1982, "Mother's Little Helper" as the Rolling Stones called it in their 1966 hit song, Valium was the most prescribed drug in the US. Sales peaked in 1978 with more than 2.3 billion pills sold that year.

Roche, with a market value of $244.27 billion, is among the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, benzodiazepines are still among the most commonly prescribed medications and are notably “habit-forming.” 

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