Marijuana Use Linked To Lower Domestic Violence Rates?

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Some studies have reportedly found correlations between marijuana use and intimate partner violence (IPV).

The study, which was conducted out of the University of Buffalo, looked at 634 different couples and found that couples where both people smoked marijuana two or more times a month engaged in less physical violence, according to WGRZ.com.

The findings are reportedly based on patterns of violence in an overall year, not just on any given day where marijuana use was involved. Researchers at UB reportedly stated that it appears that marijuana may decrease aggressive urges of conflict.

Although these conclusions are interesting, a team of researchers from SUNY Buffalo and Rutgers argue in a new paper in "Psychology of Addictive Behaviors" that these studies haven't been thorough enough to establish anything approaching tight causal links, according to NY Magazine.

Given the data from one of the studies, it's reportedly just as likely victims of IPV used marijuana to cope with the abuse they endured than that their marijuana use somehow led to it.

All other data, besides the correlation between marijuana use and IPV among wives who had already perpetrated IPV in the year before marriage, reportedly pointed in the direction of more pot, less domestic violence.

"There are several possible reasons why we may have observed a protective association between marijuana use and IPV perpetration

in the current investigation. Among experienced users, marijuana may enhance positive affect (Hart et al., 2010), which in turn could reduce the likelihood of conflict and aggression. In addition, previous research has found that chronic users exhibit blunted emotional reaction to threat stimuli, which may also decrease the likelihood of aggressive behavior (Gruber, Rogowska, & Yurgelun-Todd, 2009)," stated researchers. 

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