According to a new study, marijuana users who work may be at risk of losing their jobs.
The research conducted by Cassandra A. Okechukwu, ScD, MSN, of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and colleagues was published in this month’s Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
The researchers analyzed nationally representative data from about 22,000 respondents to a 2001-02 survey, with follow-up in 2003-04; and 21,439 respondents to a 2012-13 survey.
The team found that the percentage of workers who reported using marijuana in the past year increased from about 4.50 percent in 2001-02 to 10.25 percent in 2012-13. The percentage meeting DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for marijuana use disorder increased from 1.2 to 2.6 percent.
With adjustment for other factors, workers who reported marijuana use in 2001-02 had 27 percent higher odds of losing their jobs in 2003-04 and in the 2012-13 survey, the odds of job loss were 50 percent higher for workers reporting marijuana use.
“Even though job loss places workers at increased risks for ill-health and occupational injuries, it remains under-explored in discussions of the potential health and social impacts of marijuana use,” Dr. Okechukwu and coauthors stated.
“Future studies using an occupational health perspective are needed,” they added.
