Heavy Marijuana Use in Adolescence Linked to Higher Mortality by Age 60

Apr 21, 2016

ARLINGTON, Va. – Men who are heavy marijuana users at ages 18 and 19 are 40 percent more likely to die by age 60 than men reporting no history of marijuana use, according to a study out today in AJP in Advance.

A previous study of the same population showed no association between marijuana use and risk of death. However, with the 40-year time frame of the current study, the men had reached ages at which the health-related, harmful effects of marijuana use (e.g., cancer, pulmonary disease and coronary heart disease) were more likely to be seen.

Edison Manrique-Garcia, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm examined the records of more than 45,000 Swedish men entering compulsory military training in 1969–1970 and identified deaths between training entry and 2011.

About 4,000 of the 45,000 men died during the 42-year time period, and those who had ever used marijuana and those who were heavy users in adolescence died earlier than those who never used it. The mortality rate among heavy marijuana users in adolescence (those who had used it more than 50 times) was significantly higher than that of men who never used it.

Death from injury, either accidental or deliberate, was a cause of death that showed an increasing risk as the level of adolescent marijuana use increased.

The authors conclude that “our findings may seem surprising in light of a previous study of this cohort in which cannabis use was not found to be associated with an increased risk of death.” However, because of the length of the study, participants “had reached an age where the detrimental somatic effects of cannabis use were more likely to be apparent.”

This study appears in The American Journal of Psychiatry (AJP) available at AJP in Advance. Funding for the study was provided by the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research and the Stockholm County Council.

The American Psychiatric Association is a national medical specialty society whose more than 36,500 physician members specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, prevention and research of mental illnesses, including substance use disorders.

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