Cannabis legalization and cannabis use disorder in United States Veterans Health Administration patients with and without psychiatric disorders, 2005–2022: a repeated cross-sectional study

Abstract Background: We investigated whether the associations of state medical and recreational cannabis legalization (MCL, RCL enactment) with increasing prevalence of Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD) differed among patients in the United States (US) Veterans Health Administration (VHA) who did or did not have common psychiatric disorders. Methods: Electronic medical record data (2005–2022) were analyzed on patients aged 18–75 with ≥1 VHA primary care, emergency department, or mental health visit and no hospice/palliative care within a given year (sample sizes ranging