Associations of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms With Marijuana and Synthetic Cannabis Use Among Young Adult U.S. Veterans: A Pilot Investigation

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Objective: This study involves a pilot investigation of associations between marijuana and synthetic cannabis use with PTSD symptoms among a young adult sample of U.S. veterans. Method: In a cross-sectional survey of a community sample of 790 young adult U.S. veterans, we assessed demographics, combat severity, marijuana and synthetic cannabis use, expectancies of marijuana use, and PTSD symptoms. Results: Overall, 61.8% and 20.4% of our sample reported lifetime and past-month marijuana use, whereas 17.0% and 3.4% reported lifetime and past-month synthetic cannabis use. Veterans screening positive for PTSD were more likely to use marijuana and synthetic cannabis in their lifetime and in the past month. Positive PTSD screens, as well as greater expectancies that marijuana leads to relaxation and tension reduction, were associated with past-month marijuana use in logistic regression analyses. Expectancies moderated the relationship between PTSD and marijuana use, such that those with positive PTSD screens reporting higher levels of relaxation and tension-reduction expectancies were most likely to report past-month marijuana use. Conclusions: Our findings suggest an association of PTSD symptoms with marijuana and synthetic cannabis use among young adult U.S. veterans. Future research should further investigate the link between PTSD and marijuana use, as well as the rates and consequences of synthetic cannabis use among veterans. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 77, 509-514, 2016)

Social Support Networks and Symptom Severity Among Patients with Co-occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders

“…Unexpectedly, we found that more abstinence support was associated with greater PTSD and drug use severity at treatment intake and across follow-ups. One possible reason for this finding is that drug use, especially marijuana use, may be the primary mechanism for coping with PTSD (Grant, Pedersen, & Neighbors, 2016) such that without substance use, PTSD experiences might become more unmanageable. As a result, abstinence support may be seen as unnecessary or inconvenient.…”

Longitudinal Associations between Sleep, Intrusive Thoughts, and Alcohol Problems Among Veterans

“…Data were collected from primarily White, male veterans who reported a lifetime history of cannabis use. Approximately 62% of returning veterans report a lifetime history of cannabis use, with higher incidence rates (68%) among those with PTSD (Grant et al., ). Given these prevalence rates, findings are generalizable to a large number of returning U.S. veterans.…”

Cannabis and mental illness: a review

“…Moreover, when an individual meets PTSD criteria and concurrently uses cannabis, they typically experience increased withdrawal and craving [8]. Other studies either show mixed support for both the potential harms [26,62,104,148], the therapeutic benefits, of which mostly involves improvements in sleep-related outcomes [18,45,64,124], or show lack of association between PTSD outcomes and cannabis use [80]. There is mixed data for the use of cannabis as a therapeutic treatment for PTSD.…”