(Newswire.net — August 27, 2014) — The study found the more couples smoked marijuana, the less likely they were to engage in domestic violence a year afterwards. The findings did not shed any light on acts of violence immediately after smoking.
Experts think couples who use the drug share similar values and social circles, which could reduce the likelihood of conflict.
“Couples in which both spouses used marijuana frequently reported the least frequent IPV [intimate partner violence] perpetration,” the study concludes. The things controlled in the study was demographic variables, behavioral problems, and alcohol use.
In the study that started in 1996. Authors studied the data from 634 couples over nine years of marriage and find a significantly lower incidence of domestic violence among married couples who smoke pot.
Common sense would draw us to a conclusion that stoned people are happy, and happy people do not fight.
Since some of the data used in the study is now nearly two decades old, the authors would like to see if these findings would hold true among current newlyweds, particularly in light of “the trend toward marijuana decriminalization in the United States and potentially more positive attitudes toward its use”. There are two US states that have legalized Marijuana since 2013 and an additional eleven that have dicriminalized it for medicinal use.
On the official White House web page, Office of National Drug Control Policy, says that “Marijuana is a topic of significant public discourse in the United States, and while many are familiar with the discussions, it is not always easy to find the latest, research-based information on marijuana to answer to the common questions about its health effects, or the differences between Federal and state laws concerning the drug. Confusing messages being presented by popular culture, media, proponents of “medical” marijuana, and political campaigns to legalize all marijuana use perpetuate the false notion that marijuana is harmless. This significantly diminishes efforts to keep our young people drug free and hampers the struggle of those recovering from addiction.”
However, the authors of the study says that “More research also needs to be done on other dimensions of marijuana use, including abuse, dependence, and withdrawal, all behavioral states that may have different effects on how spouses interact with each other.”
Perhaps most significantly, the Buffalo study was funded partially by a grant from the National Institute for Drug Abuse, which is strongly criticized by marijuana reformers. NIDA is known as organization which stand strongly against marijuana legalization so the fact they fund studies like this one, suggests that the wind of change is starting to blow.