With the increasing legalization of cannabis, understanding the consequences of cannabis use is particularly timely. We examined the association between cannabis use and dependence, prospectively assessed between ages 18 and 38, and economic and social problems at age 38. We studied participants in the Dunedin Longitudinal Study, a cohort (N = 1,037) followed from birth to age 38. Study members with regular cannabis use and persistent dependence experienced downward socioeconomic mobility, more financial difficulties, workplace problems, and relationship conflict in early midlife. Cannabis dependence was not linked to traffic-related convictions. Associations were not explained by socioeconomic adversity, childhood psychopathology, achievement orientation, or family structure; cannabis-related criminal convictions; early onset of cannabis dependence; or comorbid substance dependence. Cannabis dependence was associated with more financial difficulties than was alcohol dependence; no difference was found in risks for other economic or social problems. Cannabis dependence is not associated with fewer harmful economic and social problems than alcohol dependence.
American Psychiatric Association. (1987). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed., rev.). Washington, DC: Author.
2.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
3.
ArriaA. M.Garnier-DykstraL. M.CaldeiraK. M.VincentK. B.WinickE. R.O’GradyK. E. (2013). Drug use patterns and continuous enrollment in college: Results from a longitudinal study. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 74, 71–83.
4.
ArriaA. M.Garnier-DykstraL. M.CookE. T.CaldeiraK. M.VincentK. B.BaronR. A.O’GradyK. E. (2013). Drug use patterns in young adulthood and post-college employment. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 127, 23–30.
5.
ArseneaultL.MoffittT. E.CaspiA.TaylorP. J.SilvaP. A. (2000). Mental disorders and violence in a total birth cohort: Results from the Dunedin Study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 57, 979–986.
6.
BaborT. F.CaulkinsJ. P.EdwardsG.FischerB.FoxcroftD. R.HumphreysK.. . . ReuterP. (2010). Drug policy and the public good. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
7.
BodenJ. M.FergussonD. M.HorwoodL. J. (2006). Illicit drug use and dependence in a New Zealand birth cohort. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 40, 156–163.
8.
BrookJ. S.LeeJ. Y.FinchS. J.SeltzerN.BrookD. W. (2013). Adult work commitment, financial stability, and social environment as related to trajectories of marijuana use beginning in adolescence. Substance Abuse, 34, 298–305.
9.
BrookJ. S.WhitemanM.FinchS. J.CohenP. (1996). Young adult drug use and delinquency: Childhood antecedents and adolescent mediators. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 1584–1592.
10.
BrookJ. S.ZhangC.BrookD. W. (2011). Developmental trajectories of marijuana use from adolescence to adulthood: Personal predictors. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 165, 55–60.
11.
CallaghanR. C.AllebeckP.SidorchukA. (2013). Marijuana use and risk of lung cancer: A 40-year cohort study. Cancer Causes Control, 24, 1811–1820.
12.
DegenhardtL.ChiuW. T.SampsonN.KesslerR. C.AnthonyJ. C. (2007). Epidemiological patterns of extra-medical drug use in the United States: Evidence from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, 2001-2003. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 90, 210–223.
13.
DegenhardtL.HallW. (2012). Extent of illicit drug use and dependence, and their contribution to the global burden of disease. Lancet, 379, 7–13.
14.
DornbuschS. M.LinI. C.MunroeP. T.BianchiA. J. (1999). Adolescent polydrug use and violence in the United States. International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 11, 197–220.
EhrensaftM. K.Langhinrichsen-RohlingJ.HeymanR. E.O’LearyK. D.LawrenceE. (1999). Feeling controlled in marriage: A phenomenon specific to physically aggressive couples?Journal of Family Psychology, 13, 20–32.
18.
EhrensaftM. K.MoffittT. E.CaspiA. (2004). Clinically abusive relationships in an unselected birth cohort: Men’s and women’s participation and developmental antecedents. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 113, 258–270.
19.
ElleyW. B.IrvingJ. C. (1976). Revised socio-economic index for New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 11, 25–36.
20.
EllicksonP. L.McGuiganK. A. (2000). Early predictors of adolescent violence. American Journal of Public Health, 90, 566–572.
21.
ElvikR. (2013). Risk of road accident associated with the use of drugs: A systematic review and meta-analysis of evidence from epidemiological studies. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 60, 254–267.
22.
FergussonD. M.BodenJ. M. (2008). Cannabis use and later life outcomes [Target article and commentaries]. Addiction, 103(6), 969–978.
23.
HallW.DegenhardtL. (2009). Adverse health effects of non-medical cannabis use. Lancet, 374, 1383–1391.
24.
HancoxR. J.PoultonR.ElyM.WelchD.TaylorD. R.McLachlanC. R.. . . SearsM. R. (2010). Effects of cannabis on lung function: A population-based cohort study. European Respiratory Journal, 35, 42–47.
25.
HorwoodL. J.FergussonD. M.HayatbakhshM. R.NajmanJ. M.CoffeyC.PattonG. C.. . . HutchinsonD. M. (2010). Cannabis use and educational achievement: Findings from three Australasian cohort studies. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 110, 247–253.
26.
JohnstonL. D.O’MalleyP. M.BachmanJ. G.SchulenbergJ. E. (2009). Monitoring the Future national survey results on drug use, 1975-2008. Volume II: College students (NIH Publication No. 10-7586). Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse.
27.
JohnstonL. D.O’MalleyP. M.BachmanJ. G.SchulenbergJ. E. (2010). Monitoring the Future national survey results on drug use, 1975-2009. Volume I: Secondary school students (NIH Publication No. 10-7584). Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse.
28.
KirkR. E. (2013). Experimental design: Procedures for the behavioral sciences (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
29.
Lev-RanS.RoereckeM.Le FollB.GeorgeT. P.McKenzieK.RehmJ. (2014). The association between cannabis use and depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Medicine, 44, 797–810.
30.
LiM. C.BradyJ. E.DiMaggioC. J.LusardiA. R.TzongK. Y.LiG. (2012). Marijuana use and motor vehicle crashes. Epidemiologic Reviews, 34, 65–72.
31.
MacleodJ.OakesR.CopelloA.CromeI.EggerM.HickmanM.. . . Davey SmithG. (2004). Psychological and social sequelae of cannabis and other illicit drug use by young people: A systematic review of longitudinal, general population studies. Lancet, 363, 1579–1588.
32.
McLarenJ.SwiftW.DillonP.AllsopS. (2008). Cannabis potency and contamination: A review of the literature. Addiction, 103, 1100–1109.
33.
MeierM. H.CaspiA.AmblerA.HarringtonH.HoutsR.KeefeR. S.. . . MoffittT. E. (2012). Persistent cannabis users show neuropsychological decline from childhood to midlife. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 109, E2657–E2664.
34.
MeierM. H.CaspiA.HoutsR.SlutskeW. S.HarringtonH.JacksonK. M.. . . MoffittT. E. (2013). Prospective developmental subtypes of alcohol dependence from age 18 to 32 years: Implications for nosology, etiology, and intervention. Developmental Psychopatholy, 25, 785–800.
MoffittT. E.CaspiA.HarringtonH.MilneB. J.MelchiorM.GoldbergD.PoultonR. (2007). Generalized anxiety disorder and depression: Childhood risk factors in a birth cohort followed to age 32. Psychological Medicine, 37, 441–452.
37.
MoffittT. E.CaspiA.TaylorA.KokauaJ.MilneB. J.PolanczykG.PoultonR. (2010). How common are common mental disorders? Evidence that lifetime prevalence rates are doubled by prospective versus retrospective ascertainment. Psychological Medicine, 40, 899–909.
38.
MoffittT. E.HarringtonH.CaspiA.Kim-CohenJ.GoldbergD.GregoryA. M.PoultonR. (2007). Depression and generalized anxiety disorder: Cumulative and sequential comorbidity in a birth cohort followed prospectively to age 32 years. Archives of General Psychiatry, 64, 651–660.
39.
NewcombM. D.BentlerP. M. (1988). Impact of adolescent drug use and social support on problems of young adults: A longitudinal study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 97, 64–75.
40.
NuttD. J.KingL. A.PhillipsL. D., & Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs. (2010). Drug harms in the UK: A multicriteria decision analysis. Lancet, 376, 1558–1565.
41.
PattonG. C.CoffeyC.LynskeyM. T.ReidS.HemphillS.CarlinJ. B.HallW. (2007). Trajectories of adolescent alcohol and cannabis use into young adulthood. Addiction, 102, 607–615.
42.
PedersenW. (2011). Cannabis and social welfare assistance: A longitudinal study. Addiction, 106, 1636–1643.
43.
PiqueroN. L.MoffittT. E. (2012). Can childhood factors predict workplace deviance?Justice Quarterly, 2012, 1–29.
44.
PletcherM. J.VittinghoffE.KalhanR.RichmanJ.SaffordM.SidneyS.. . . KerteszS. (2012). Association between marijuana exposure and pulmonary function over 20 years. Journal of the American Medical Association, 307, 173–181.
45.
PoultonR.HancoxR.MilneB.BaxterJ.ScottK.WilsonN. (2006). The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study: Are its findings consistent with the overall New Zealand population?New Zealand Medical Journal, 119, 45–55.
46.
PoultonR.MoffittT. E.SilvaP. A. (2015). The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study: Overview of the first 40 years, with an eye to the future. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 50, 679–693.
47.
RobinsL. N.CottlerL. B.BucholzK. K.NorthC.RourkeB. P. (1999). Diagnostic Interview Schedule forDSM–IV. St. Louis: Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry.
48.
RobinsL. N.CottlerL. B.BucholzK. K.NorthC.RourkeB. P. (2002). Diagnostic Interview Schedule for DSM–IV. St. Louis: Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry.
49.
RobinsL. N.HelzerJ. E.CroughanJ.RatcliffK. S. (1981). National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule: Its history, characteristics, and validity. Archives of General Psychiatry, 38, 381–389.
50.
RoomR.FischerB.HallW.LentonS.ReuteP. (2010). Cannabis policy: Moving beyond stalemate. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
51.
RutterM., & Academy of Medical Sciences Working Group. (2007). Identifying the environmental causes of disease: How should we decide what to believe and when to take action?London, England: Academy of Medical Sciences.
52.
SchmidtL.WeisnerC.WileyJ. (1998). Substance abuse and the course of welfare dependency. American Journal of Public Health, 88, 1616–1622.
53.
SilinsE.HorwoodL.PattonG. C.FergussonD. M.OlssonCAHutchinsonD. M., . . . Cannabis Cohorts Research Consortium. (2014). Young adult sequelae of adolescent cannabis use: An integrative analysis. Lancet Psychiatry, 1, 286–293.
54.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2012). Results from the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Summary of national findings. Rockville, MD: Author.
55.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2013). Results from the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Summary of national findings (National Survey on Drug Use and Health Series H-46). Rockville, MD: Author.
56.
TakayanagiY.SpiraA. P.RothK. B.GalloJ. J.EatonW. W.MojtabaiR. (2014). Accuracy of reports of lifetime mental and physical disorders: Results from the Baltimore Epidemiological Catchment Area Study. Journal of the American Medical Association Psychiatry, 71, 273–280.
57.
ThomsonW. M.PoultonR.BroadbentJ. M.MoffittT. E.CaspiA.BeckJ. D.. . . HancoxR. J. (2008). Cannabis smoking and periodontal disease among young adults. Journal of the American Medical Association, 299, 525–531.
58.
TuckerJ. S.EllicksonP. L.OrlandoM.MartinoS. C.KleinD. J. (2005). Substance use trajectories from early adolescence to emerging adulthood: A comparison of smoking, binge drinking, and marijuana use. Journal of Drug Issues, 35, 307–331.
59.
van AmsterdamJ.OpperhuizenA.KoeterM. (2010). Ranking the harm of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs for the individual and the population. European Addiction Research, 16, 202–207.
60.
van OursJ. C. (2007). The effects of cannabis use on wages of prime-age males. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 69, 619–634.
61.
WeissenbornR.NuttD. J. (2012). Popular intoxicants: What lessons can be learned from the last 40 years of alcohol and cannabis regulation?Journal of Psychopharmacology, 26, 213–220.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
