Chronic Marijuana Use and Psychosocial Adaptation
JOEL SIMON HOCHMAN M.D.1, and
NORMAN Q. BRILL M.D.2
1 Project Director of the Longitudinal Drug Study, University of California at Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, Calif. 90024 and Chairman of the Los Angeles County Task Force on Drug Abuse
2 Professor of Psychiatry, Center for the Health Sciences, University of California at Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, Calif. 90024
The authors studied the life history and adaptation of marijuana users and nonusers in a randomly selected representative sample of ten percent of the UCLA undergraduate student body. Statistically significant differences were discovered in family and personal history; educational and work performance; legal history; marital and sexual adjustment; current adaptation; political, religious, and other values; and the use of other drugs. Chronic use of marijuana was not accompanied by significant deterioration in functioning or adaptation but was accompanied by increasing acculturation into a relativistic, gratification-oriented, stimulus-seeking value system.
