Can Marijuana Help Prevent Domestic Violence?

For years researchers have linked alcohol and other substance abuse to an increase in domestic violence. It makes sense right? Alcohol and various other substances alter your state of mind and thus cause people to react in a way that they usually wouldn’t. But, some of the latest studies are in fact discovering that cannabis could help to prevent domestic violence.

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It seems that the benefits of marijuana go far beyond the therapeutic advantages. Studies have shown that cannabis has impacted people’s lives on a much bigger level, including interactions between families, couples, and even within communities.

In this article, we will take a look at just how marijuana can lower the domestic violence rate by exploring several high profile studies. These studies have all shown that marijuana has statistically lowered the rate of violent activity in households and communities.

Weed Use and Domestic Violence: What is Domestic Violence, Anyway?

It’s important to keep in mind that domestic violence is not physical violence alone. It’s any behavior in which the purpose is to gain control and power over a partner, spouse, or intimate family member. Abuse is a behavior that is learned; it’s not caused by mental problems, drugs, alcohol, anger, or other commonly used excuses.

The fact is, domestic violence is a very broad issue and most likely, a lot more common than any of us realize. The women’s aid describes it as an incident or pattern of incidents of coercive, threatening, degrading, controlling, and violent behavior which includes sexual violence, in most cases by a partner, ex-partner, carer, or family member.

Domestic abuse can include but is not limited to:

• Physical or sexual abuse
• Harassment and stalking
• Coercive control
• Financial abuse
• Online or digital abuse
• Psychological and/or emotional abuse

The Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence (ACESDV) gives a few examples of controlling behavior. This is behavior that is intended for the abuser to maintain dominance over the victim. This behavior may often seem harmless but is, in fact, a clear indication of domestic violence. Some of these things include:

• Monitoring phone calls and texts
• Checking the mileage on the car after use
• Coming home unexpectedly or calling to check up on a partner

Essentially, anyone who is forced to alter their behavior because they are afraid of their partner’s reaction is being abused. This can begin at any stage of a relationship and is rarely a once off occurrence. Generally, incidents will become more frequent and severe over time.

Domestic violence is a lot more prominent than we realize. In the majority of cases, it is experienced by women and perpetrated by men. This makes it a gendered crime that is deeply connected to the social inequality between men and women. The Washington Post has suggested that over 30% of women in the U.S have been a victim of one form of domestic violence or another at some point in their relationships.

Since there is no actual medication that can be used to prevent domestic violence, it might seem like this is a hopeless case. But, this is where cannabis enters the picture.

Where is Domestic Violence Most Prominent in the U.S.?

There are some states in the U.S where women are safer than others. Although you might assume that domestic violence is something that would be equally prevalent throughout the country, there are in fact regions and places where it seems to be more common.

According to a study conducted by the Violence Policy Center (VPC), the big reason for this is guns. It has been found that the states with the worst gun-control laws have the highest rates of domestic violence. In the ten worst states, gun deaths account from between 38% to 69% of all male-one-female homicides.

These ten states, ranked from highest to lowest, were found to have the highest rates of domestic violence:

1. Alaska
2. Louisiana
3. Nevada
4. Oklahoma
5. South Carolina
6. New Mexico
7. South Dakota
8. Georgia
9. Tennessee
10. Texas

Apart from the gun-control laws, or rather lack of, another interesting observation is that several of these states which have been found to have some of the highest levels of domestic violence, also have some of the strictest cannabis laws in the country. Alaska, Nevada, and New Mexico are all states that stand firmly against the use of marijuana but are quite ok with their citizens owning and using guns.

Since weed is not legal in these states, it’s believed that alcohol is the more common substance being used by locals, and this is why the levels of domestic violence tend to be higher. Below we will examine some of the scientific evidence that backs up this theory.

Studies Have Shown That Marijuana Use Lowers the Rate of Domestic Violence

One particular study published in the Psychology of Addictive Behaviors online found that couples who smoked weed together experienced fewer incidents of domestic violence. The study evaluated 634 couples during the first nine years of marriage and found that marijuana use was inversely proportional to domestic abuse. The higher the rate of marijuana use among partners, the lower the instance of domestic violence (and vice versa).

This study examined the pattern of marijuana use and the occurrence of violence within a year period, rather than researching whether marijuana use on a given day, would reduce the likelihood of violence at that time. After evaluating these couples over the nine-year period, the study concluded the following:

• 28% of the men and 22% of the women admitted to using pot
• Domestic violence rates were lower among couples where at least one partner smoked
• Domestic violence rates were the lowest among couples who smoked together
• Husbands’ marijuana use predicted less frequent intimate partner violence perpetration by wives
• Where both partners used weed frequently, there was the least frequent intimate partner violence perpetration
• The relationship between weed use and reduced domestic violence was most evident in women who didn’t have histories of antisocial behavior

Ultimately, the study found that chronic marijuana users show "blunted emotional reaction to threat stimuli." What this means is that smoking weed decreases a person’s reaction to the “fight or flight” syndrome. Thus, married couples who smoke marijuana together, experience a significant decrease in the likelihood of acting out in a violent manner.

Not All Data Agrees That Marijuana Use Decreases Domestic Violence

As always, there is another side to the argument. Not all research into the association between marijuana use and domestic violence has been so promising. An article published by Psychology Today back in March 2016 concluded after a 50-year study that cannabis use does, in fact, increase violent behavior.

This research was also published in an online journal, “Psychological Medicine” and ultimately found that the continued use of marijuana causes violent behavior due to the changes in brain function caused by smoking pot over many years.

These conflicting studies make matters complicated. Who are we to believe?

It’s worth noting that the study published in Psychological Medicine, was a rigorous one. It involved 411 English children born in the 1950’s, of which 97% were Caucasian and all raised in two-parent households. The study considered things parental alcohol and other drug abuse, mental illness, and cigarette smoking. Also, it tracked the cannabis use of the children’s parents, and determined that most had experimented with weed at some point in their teens, but stopped using it later in life. A total of 38% admitted to trying weed at least once in their life.

The final results of this study showed that there was a seven times greater likelihood of violent behavior among habitual marijuana users when compared to non-users. We can’t deny that this is some pretty shocking information. Researchers suggested that marijuana-induced impairments in neurons could be the cause for some of the observed violent behavior. However, this is completely conflicting data to the latest information released by the U.S government and other sources that indicate that cannabinoids act as a neuroprotectant.

In all honesty, a lot more research needs to be done on cannabis use and domestic violence before we can make any definitive conclusion on if there is, in fact, a significant correlation between these two elements.

Final Thoughts on Marijuana Use and Domestic Violence

In most cases, substance abuse can be linked to poor decision-making and unsavoury outcomes. High crime rates and family breakdowns are often linked to heavy drug use. But, in the case of marijuana, there are studies that suggest that cannabis use could decrease the prevalence of domestic violence and other social problems.

However, as we have noted, there are also studies which suggest the very opposite. But generally, we look at the more prevalent data, which in this case points to the fact that cannabis use leads to a reduced rate of domestic violence, even if there are studies that claim otherwise.

In reality, more definitive and larger-scale studies need to be conducted to come to a more reliable and concrete answer.

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