Gainesville, FL: Marijuana use is not independently associated with an elevated risk of head and neck cancers, according to data published in the Journal of Oral Pathology & Medicine.
Researchers affiliated with the University of Florida at Gainesville assessed the risk of head and neck cancers in a cohort of patients with a history of cannabis use. Investigators found no association once they adjusted for participants’ use of alcohol and tobacco. By contrast, subjects’ use of alcohol and cigarettes was associated with an elevated risk of cancer even after researchers adjusted for covariates.
They reported: “The odds ratio for oral cancer among cannabis users … became insignificant after adjustment for alcohol and cigarette smoking (OR=0.7 | OR=0.62). … Furthermore, after adjusting for cannabis use, the OR [odds ratios] for OPC [oropharyngeal cancer] in the alcohol users was 7.95 and 7.39 for smokers. The OR for OC [oral cancer] after adjusting for cannabis in the alcohol users was 9.67 and 7.52 in the cigarette smokers.”
The study’s authors concluded: “Alcohol and cigarette smoking rather than the use of cannabis may play a major role in establishing an association between cannabis use and both types of head and neck cancers. … Further large-scale studies are required to elucidate the risk of head and neck cancer in cannabis users.”
A 2020 review of 34 studies concluded that cannabis use is not associated with an increased risk of cancer, including those typically associated with tobacco. A 2025 study reported that cannabis use is associated with a decreased risk of pancreatic cancer.
Full text of the study, “Use of cannabis and odds ratio for oropharyngeal and oral cancer: A cohort study,” appears in the Journal of Oral Pathology & Medicine.