Chronic Marijuana Use and Psychosocial Adaptation

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.