Preventing veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars from suicide and suicidal thoughts may require keeping them as far away as possible from marijuana.

A recent study of more than 3,000 veterans found that those with cannabis use disorder (CUD) — defined as the use of cannabis despite clinically significant distress or impairment — increased their risk of self-harm. The findings come at a time of unprecedented encouragement for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder to use marijuana to manage their symptoms.

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The rate of CUD diagnoses increased more than 50 percent among veterans receiving care from the Veterans Affairs Health Care System between 2002 and 2009, according to a 2012 study. Such findings are vital, according to critics of the drug, as this is further evidence that CUD may be a unique predictor of suicide attempts among veterans.

Some 20 veterans a day in the U.S. take their own lives. But the findings suggest any consumption of marijuana might make the condition worse.

Related: How Veterans Can Fight Their Way Through PTSD

“It is distressing to realize that many veterans suffering from PTSD have been sold the false promise that marijuana use can ease their symptoms, when in fact the science shows it’s just the opposite,” Dr. Kevin A. Sabet, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), said in a media release. “We all want veterans to have a healthy and successful readjustment to civilian life, and it’s clear that marijuana has no place in that. This study may be the tip of the iceberg showing the alarming links between marijuana use and suicide.”

The study, Sabet added, expands on a recent National Academies of Sciences (NAS) report, which found only limited evidence that marijuana or cannabinoids could be effective in treating symptoms of PTSD. Instead, the NAS report showed a strong association between marijuana use and social anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, and schizophrenia.

Related: Treating PTSD with Pot: A Risky Rx

Another study done by Yale University in 2015 also showed a connection between marijuana use and PTSD symptoms and alcohol use.

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“This study is just the latest in a mounting body of evidence showing the connection between marijuana use and mental health problems,” Jeffrey Zinsmeister, vice president and director of government relations at SAM, told LifeZette. “The Kennedy Forum’s latest guide on mental health, released just last week, cautions Congress to ‘resist efforts to legalize and further legitimize marijuana,’ based on this very connection. The marijuana industry is trying to downplay or minimize studies like this one, just as Big Tobacco did for decades with cigarettes — putting their profits before public health and safety of veterans.”