While the modern marijuana consumer may be shedding that lazy stoner stereotype , new research shows that employees who use and abuse the drug are more likely to miss work. The findings were published Monday in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine . For the study, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the New York University Grossman School of Medicine analyzed data from the 2021–22 National Survey on Drug Use and Health on 46,500 adults employed full time in the U.
S. Recent and frequent cannabis use, as well as cannabis use disorder (CUD), they found, was associated with greater workplace absenteeism. Work absences included days missed due to illness or injury in addition to skipped days when employees “just didn’t want to be there.
” Respondents were a majority or plurality white (62%), male (57%), ages 35 to 49 (35%), married (52%), had at least a college degree (42%), and had an annual household income exceeding $75,000 (55%). About 16% of employees had reported using cannabis within the last month , with about 7% of whom meeting CUD criteria (mild: 4%; moderate: 2%; severe: 1%). People who said they had never used cannabis missed an average 0.
95 days of work in the past 30 days due to illness/injury and skipped 0.28 days. Cannabis users, by comparison, recorded the following absences: Past-month use: 1.
47 illness/injury, 0.63 skipped Mild CUD: 1.74 illness/injury, 0.
62 skipped Moderate CUD: 1.69 illness/injury, 0.98 s.