Feb. 6, 2025 — People who get hospital-based care for cannabis use disorder have a 2.8-fold greater chance of dying within the next five years than people who were of the same age and otherwise had similar health factors.
The elevated risk of early death among people with cannabis use disorder applied to all causes of death, but particularly due to suicide, trauma, opioid poisoning, other drug poisoning, and lung cancer.
However, the risk of early death among people with alcohol use disorder was higher among people who received hospital-based care related to the use of alcohol, stimulants, or opioids, compared to the people with cannabis use disorder.
The study was published Thursday in JAMA Network Open.
The researchers analyzed data for nearly 530,000 people living in Ontario, Canada, whose average age was 30. Among them, about 107,000 visited a hospital for care related to cannabis use disorder (CUD). During the next five years, 3.5% of them died compared to less than 1% of people who didn’t have CUD.
“The findings are sobering,” wrote Laura J. Bierut, MD, of Washington University and Fang Fang, PhD, of the Genomics and Translational Research Center, in an accompanying editorial. “Notably, the relative risk increase was most pronounced in individuals aged 25 to 44 years.”
“Cannabis use disorder is associated with a higher risk of death than many would expect, especially when considering the magnitude of its rising prevalence,” they continued.
More than 1 in 5 people ages 12 and older report past year use of cannabis amid increasing legalization and commercialization.
Cannabis use disorder is a formal term for addiction. The diagnosis is made when people meet two of 11 criteria, such as a unsuccessfully trying to cut back, cravings, spending excessive time acquiring and using it, developing tolerance, or continuing to use even when it causes social, interpersonal, or work problems.
An estimated 10% of people who begin smoking cannabis will become addicted, and 30% of current users meet the criteria for addiction, according to Yale Medicine.
