“Marijuana never killed anyone” – AALM response

Posted on 21/11/2023

Americans Against Legalizing Marijuana collated articles on some of the marijuana users who have killed others. These are listed below. (Elsewhere, Ross Grainger has collated information on cannabis-related violence in the UK and Ireland).

The information below comes directly from AALM (please forgive formatting, just click links).

‘I am a murderer:’ Glenview son stabbed father to death over marijuana use before work, court doc reveals
Denver Man Who Said Marijuana Made Him Kill His Wife Gets 30 Years
The harms of marijuana rarely stay personal especially when the user gets behind the wheel of a car.
Driver gets nearly 12 years in prison for DUI-marijuana crash that killed 1 in Scripps Ranch
Marijuana-intoxicated driver causes 5 car pile up, kills 3 including 2 children.
Man High on Marijuana During Fatal 2020 Crash in Lauderhill Arrested
Man high on marijuana at time of crash that killed 2 siblings
Car Crash Deaths Involving Cannabis on the Rise
Lastly, there is a connection between psychotic violence and marijuana use.  
Marijuana use and psychotic violence go hand-in-hand.
More Sources:

  • In 2007 the prestigious medical journal Lancet recanted its previous benign view of marijuana, citing studies showing “an increase in the risk of psychosis of about 40 percent.”
  • A seminal long-term study of 50,465 Swedish army conscripts found those who had tried marijuana by age 18 had 2.4 times the risk of being diagnosed with schizophrenia in the following 15 years than those who had never used the drug. Heavy users were 6.7 times more likely to be admitted to a hospital for schizophrenia.
  • Another study, of 1,037 people in New Zealand, found those who used cannabis at ages 15 and 18 had higher rates of psychotic symptoms at age 26 than non-users.
  • A 2011 study in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) of 2,000 teenagers found those who smoked marijuana were twice as likely to develop psychosis as those who didn’t. Another BMJ study estimated that “13 percent of cases of schizophrenia could be averted if all cannabis use were prevented.”
  • In 2014, people who had cannabis use disorder made up about 1.5 percent of Americans. But they accounted for eleven percent of all the psychosis cases in emergency rooms—90,000 cases, 250 a day, triple the number in 2006.
  • The National Academy of Medicine found in 2017 that “cannabis use is likely to increase the risk of developing schizophrenia and other psychoses; the higher the use, the greater the risk.” Also, that “regular cannabis use is likely to increase the risk for developing a social anxiety disorder.”
  • A Study showed cases in which marijuana led to unnecessary violence, health risks, and, in many cases, both.
  • In a Secret Service study (pg 13) over half of the attackers had a history of illicit drug use and/or substance abuse. This abuse, which included alcohol and marijuana, was evidenced by such factors as the attacker receiving treatment for the abuse, suffer legal consequences, or having significant problems in their personal lives stemming from the abuse.
  • Marijuana and Psychosis

AALM calls on public officials to release the toxicology reports on all mass murderers.

Below is a shortlist of some of the well-known murderers who were pot users. Most often toxicology reports are not made public. Perpetrators’ marijuana use is often discovered via interviews with acquaintances, military records, or some other secondary source.

On May 24, 2022, Salvador Ramos fatally shot nineteen students and two teachers and wounded seventeen others at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Earlier that day, the perpetrator shot his grandmother in the face, severely wounding her. It appears Salvador is likely another mass murderer who used pot. He said he hated his mother and grandmother who restricted his marijuana use.
Darrel Brooks, The Waukesha Wisconsin driving rampager was a user of marijuana with domestic abuse and multiple episodes of violence in his past. He had more recently been caught with meth which is a natural progression from marijuana. On his twitter profile he describes himself as a stoner and avid user of pot.
Ian David Long Killed 13 people on November 7, 2018, in Thousand Oaks, California, United States, at the Borderline Bar and Grill, a country-western bar frequented by college students. Toxicology later revealed he had marijuana in his system
Nikolas Cruz On February 14, 2018, opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing 17 people and injuring 17 others. He blamed his marijuana use for his actions.
Manchester terrorist Salmon Abedi blew himself up and killed 22 in the United Kingdom on 22 May 2017. Abedi was a pot-smoking university dropout.
A toxicology report on Devin Patrick Kelley, who shot and killed 26 at a church in Texas, revealed marijuana. November 5, 2017
Diagnosed with cannabis-induced psychosis, Satoshi Uematsu killed 19 handicapped people in Japan and injured many others. July 26, 2016
Nice terrorist Mohammed Bouhlel smoked very strong weed in high school, and had his first psychotic break at 19. July 14, 2016
Omar Mir Seddique Mateen was an American mass murderer and domestic terrorist who murdered 49 people and wounded 53 others in a mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on June 12, 2016, before he was killed in a shootout with the local police. He was an avid pot user.
Robert Dear, Planned Parenthood shooter, November 27, 2015. He was described as a “marijuana newcomer” by neighbors brought to Colorado by the promise of legal weed.
Noah Harpham, was in mania when he shot three people in Colorado Springs. He had marijuana metabolites in his urine at the time of his death in 2015. 
Eddie Routh, veteran with PTSD, smoked pot the morning before he killed Chris Kyle Chad Littlefield. February 2, 2013
James Holmes, Aurora shooter used to smoked weed behind his apartment constantly. 2012
Jared Loughner killed six and injured many in Tucson, AZ, 2011. He was a habitual pot user.
Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh killed 168 in 1996. He experimented with marijuana and meth.
“Senseless violence and mass murders are in the news and in the minds of Americans once again. Mental health problems are also considered a potential contributing factor. With the dramatic increase in the potency and use of marijuana, senseless violent acts are and will become more and more common.”
– Carla Lowe, President of AALM“The link between marijuana use and psychosis, depression, and schizophrenia has been known for decades. Yet, the general public is not being informed.”
-Scott Chipman, Vice President of AALM