Long Life and Marijuana

Of “The Thirteen” countries with long life expectancies, five are in the top rank of annual cannabis users, including the U.S. at #12. With drug arrests on the rise, if you're one of the long living, pot smoking, U.S. citizens, you just might spend part of your long life in jail!

Although the CDC reported only 1 death from cannabinoids in the US, out of over 26,000 reported deaths from drugs in 2002 (including accidents and suicide but excluding alcohol), according to the FBI, 45.3% of all 2002 drug abuse violations were for Marijuana (which would mean about 697,100 people arrested for cannabis out of 1,538,813 total drug abuse violation arrests).

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_02/pdf/02crime4.pdf (Crime in the US, 2002 page 4)
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance.htm#incrate (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Crime Facts at a Glance)

“The Thirteen”
Population > 10 million + life expectancy > 78 years
Country and Life expectancy

1. Japan 82.07
2. *Canada 81.16
   
3. France 80.87
4. *Australia 80.73
5. *Italy 80.07
6. *Spain 79.92
   
7. Greece 79.52
8. The Netherlands 79.25
9. Germany 79.10
10. Belgium 79.07
11. The U.K. 78.85
12. *The U.S. 78.14
    
13. Portugal 78.04

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html

Top Cannabis Using Countries (over 10% annual use age 15-64)
Country and Cannabis use

1. Papua New Guinea 29.5%
2. Micronesia Fed. State 29.1%
3. Ghana 21.5%
4. Zambia 17.7%
5. *Canada 16.8%
   
6. Sierra Leone 16.1%
7. Cyprus 14.1%
8. Nigeria 13.8%
9. New Zealand 13.4%
10. *Australia 13.3%
11. *The U.S. 12.6%
12. *Italy 11.2%
13. *Spain 11.2%
    
14. Jamaica 10.7%

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/WDR-2007.html

Find more fun stats in the book Cause of Death: A Perfect Little Guide to What Kills Us by Jack Mingo, Erin Barrett and Lucy Autrey Wilson