Abstract: Marijuana Use and Mortality

Stephen Sidney, MD, Jerome E. Beck, DrPH, Irene S. Tekawa, MA, Charles P.
Quesenberry, Jr, PhD, and Gary D. Friedman, MD

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of
marijuana use to mortality.

Methods. The study population comprised 65 171 Kaiser Permanente Medical
Care Program enrollees, aged 15 through 49 years, who completed
questionnaires about smoking habits, including marijuana use, between 1979
and 1985. Mortality followup was conducted
through 1991.

Results. Compared with nonuse or experimentation (lifetime use six or fewer
times), current marijuana use was not associated with a significantly
increased risk of nonAIDS mortality in men or of total mortality in women.
Current marijuana use was associated with increased risk of AIDS mortality
in men. This interpretation was supported by the lack of association of
marijuana use with AIDS mortality in men from a Kaiser Permanente AIDS
database.

Conclusions. Marijuana use in a prepaid health carebased study cohort had
little effect on nonAIDS mortality in men and on total mortality in women.
(Am J Public Health. 1997;87:585590)