Marijuana use, especially non-medical use, among patients with depression may impede depression symptom improvement while lessening the likelihood of psychiatry visits, according to a recent study. Therefore, marijuana use and associated barriers to care should receive consideration by depression treatment providers. Participants were 307 psychiatry outpatients participating in a trial of drug/alcohol use treatment for depression. Measures of past 30-day marijuana use, depression/anxiety symptoms, psychiatry visits, and functional data related to health status were collected at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months. Regressions (baseline and 1 year) and growth models (over time) predicted clinical and psychiatry visit outcomes, from medical or non-medical marijuana use (no-use=reference). Researchers found:

• At baseline, 40.0% of the sample used marijuana and more reported non-medical (71.7%) than medical (28.2%) use.
• Relative to non-users at baseline, patients using medically had worse mental/physical health functioning, and non-medical use was associated with higher suicidal ideation (B=1.08), worse mental health functioning (B = -3.79), and fewer psychiatry visits (B = -0.69).
• Patients using non-medically over time improved less in depression symptoms (B=1.49) and suicidal ideation (B = 1.08) than non-users.