Marijuana

A new study found that cannabis use in the US has been increasing … but not among teenagers.

The research, which looked at data on more than 500,000 people’s cannabis habits during different time periods from 2013 to 2022 and was published in this month’s edition of Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports, also revealed that cannabis use had increased among Americans in households earning more than $75,000 a year, as well as those with a college degree.

“We used data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, and we really just estimated the prevalence of use,” said Delvon Mattingly, a behavioral science professor at the University of Kentucky and lead author of the study.

“We also examined trends in current cannabis use, which was defined as any use in the past 30 days,” as well as “prevalence patterns and trends in use by age, gender, race and ethnicity, educational attainment and total annual family income”.


Mattingly said he was surprised to learn that teen cannabis use had remained stagnant during this period – he had expected to see an increase.

Still, he said this data might not tell us everything. The study looked at all youth from 12 to 17 as one category, partly because more specific data could violate the confidentiality of minors.

“If we were able to disaggregate the data a little more and look at changes between like middle to high school youth, for example, we may see an increase,” said Mattingly. Recent CDC data found that cannabis use decreased among high schoolers, from 23% using it in 2013 to 17% in 2023.…….



https://www.theguardian.com/society...s-use-survey-teenagers?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other