Whereas the fashionable marijuana shopper could also be shedding that lazy stoner stereotype, new analysis reveals that staff who use and abuse the drug usually tend to miss work.
The findings had been printed Monday within the American Journal of Preventive Drugs.
For the examine, researchers on the College of California, San Diego College of Drugs and the New York College Grossman College of Drugs analyzed knowledge from the 2021–22 Nationwide Survey on Drug Use and Well being on 46,500 adults employed full time within the U.S. Latest and frequent hashish use, in addition to hashish use dysfunction (CUD), they discovered, was related to larger office absenteeism.
Work absences included days missed attributable to sickness or harm along with skipped days when staff “simply didn’t need to be there.” Respondents had been a majority or plurality white (62%), male (57%), ages 35 to 49 (35%), married (52%), had at the least a university diploma (42%), and had an annual family revenue exceeding $75,000 (55%). About 16% of staff had reported utilizing hashish inside the final month, with about 7% of whom assembly CUD standards (delicate: 4%; reasonable: 2%; extreme: 1%).
Individuals who mentioned they’d by no means used hashish missed a mean 0.95 days of labor prior to now 30 days attributable to sickness/harm and skipped 0.28 days. Hashish customers, by comparability, recorded the next absences:
- Previous-month use: 1.47 sickness/harm, 0.63 skipped
- Delicate CUD: 1.74 sickness/harm, 0.62 skipped
- Average CUD: 1.69 sickness/harm, 0.98 skipped
- Extreme CUD: 2.02 sickness/harm, 1.83 skipped
The outcomes additionally confirmed that individuals who used hashish extra incessantly skipped essentially the most work. For example, those that consumed it a few times monthly skipped 0.48 days, whereas those that consumed it 20 to 30 days monthly skipped 0.7 days. Individuals who used hashish three to 5 days monthly had the best prevalence of missed days attributable to sickness/harm (1.68). Hashish use longer than a month in the past had no bearing on worker absence.
“These findings spotlight the necessity for elevated monitoring, screening measures, and focused interventions associated to hashish use and use dysfunction amongst employed adults,” researchers wrote. “Furthermore, these outcomes emphasize the necessity for enhanced office prevention insurance policies and packages aimed toward addressing and managing problematic hashish use.”
Researchers mentioned that whereas their newest work helps a lot of the prevailing literature on hashish use and office absenteeism, it additionally contrasts with different research. One earlier examine, for instance, confirmed a decline in sickness-related absences within the wake of medical marijuana laws, whereas one other discovered no hyperlink between the 2.
One limitation of the brand new examine, the authors notice, is that it relied on members’ self-reported solutions. As well as, the information don’t mirror whether or not hashish was used for medicinal or leisure functions, whether or not it was consumed throughout work hours, or deal with different elements which will have affected an individual’s hashish use patterns.
What are the indicators of hashish use dysfunction?
That marijuana isn’t addictive is a fantasy. Folks with CUD are unable to cease utilizing hashish even when it causes well being and social issues, in keeping with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC). Hashish shoppers have about a ten% chance of growing CUD, a dysfunction impacting almost a 3rd of all customers, in keeping with earlier analysis estimates. At increased threat are individuals who begin utilizing hashish as adolescents and who use the drug extra incessantly.
The CDC lists these behaviors as indicators of CUD:
- Persevering with to make use of hashish regardless of bodily or psychological issues
- Persevering with to make use of hashish regardless of social or relationship issues
- Craving hashish
- Giving up necessary actions with family and friends in favor of utilizing hashish
- Needing to make use of extra hashish to get the identical excessive
- Spending a number of time utilizing hashish
- Attempting however failing to give up utilizing hashish
- Utilizing hashish regardless that it causes issues at residence, faculty, or work
- Utilizing hashish in high-risk conditions, corresponding to whereas driving a automobile
- Utilizing extra hashish than meant
Along with interfering with on a regular basis life, CUD has been linked to unemployment, cognitive impairment, and decrease training attainment. Folks with CUD usually have extra psychological well being issues, together with different substance abuse issues. On this examine, for instance, 14% of respondents reported having alcohol use dysfunction inside the previous yr.
In case you or a beloved one are fighting hashish use, assist is out there 24/7. Go to FindTreatment.gov, textual content your ZIP code to HELP4U (435748), or name the SAMHSA Nationwide Helpline at 800-662-HELP (4357) or TTY: 800-487-4889.
For extra on hashish consumption and your well being:
