January 31, 2023 – Teenagers used less marijuana in the primary yr of the pandemic, while adult use of cannabis, illegal drugs and alcohol remained the identical and even increased, a brand new study shows.
“Substance use declined between 2019 and 2020 among 13- to 20-year-olds; no consistent declines were observed among older people, apart from a reduction in tobacco use, and cannabis use increased among adults aged 25 and over,” said the study published within the journal. JAMA network opened At Tuesday.
Among children ages 13 to fifteen, cannabis use decreased by 3.4% in 2020 in comparison with 2018 and 2019, tobacco use decreased by 4%, and use of other illicit or abused prescribed drugs decreased by 2.5%.
Among 16- and 17-year-olds, marijuana use fell by 7.3%, tobacco use fell by greater than 10%, and abuse fell by almost 3 percentage points.
“I think availability plays a big role,” said Joseph Palamar, associate professor of population health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, who was not involved within the study, on CNN.com“When highschool students are separated from their friends and stuck at home for long periods of time, they’re less more likely to have access to drugs.
“Even if a teenager successfully obtained weed, that doesn't mean he or she had a place out of reach of his or her parents where he or she could smoke it when the whole family was locked down.”
Among 21- to 24-year-olds, alcohol consumption rose from 60.2% to 65.2%. Tobacco consumption fell by 8%. Rates for marijuana and illegal or abused prescribed drugs remained unchanged, in line with the study.
The report used data from the Population Assessment and Tobacco Health Study (PATH)It tracks consumption amongst nearly 50,000 people, including adults and adolescents.