A recent study published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence aimed to explore the nature of socioeconomic and gender habits in marijuana use throughout the country.
Researchers from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University were drawn to the evaluation because American attitudes towards marijuana have been shifting and becoming more lenient than ever before. Legislation has been following suit. Currently, 28 states allow medical marijuana to be used and have designed comprehensive public programs, while eight states legalized recreational marijuana use.
“As the social and legal environment surrounding marijuana use changes, a more nuanced understanding of adult trends in marijuana use by population subgroups is an important public health issue,” stated Deborah S. Hasin, epidemiologist and author of the study.
Utilizing statistically analyzed data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the study showed that there was an increase in the overall predominance of past-year marijuana use in the U.S. – researchers estimated that a total of 10 million additional Americans – 6 million men and 4 million women – used marijuana in 2014 in contrast to 2002.
Despite the general increase in past-year marijuana use observed among both men and women, the increase was significantly higher among men. From 2007 to 2014, there was a 4 percent increase among men at variance with a 2.7 percent among women.
Marijuana use increased most significantly among… (continue reading)
