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.
people of low socioeconomic status, who earned less than $20,000 a year, the study showed.
Men of low-income levels were the force behind the widening gender gap in the predominance of marijuana use. About 19 percent of men with income levels of less than $20,000 reported using marijuana in 2007; by 2014, more than 26 percent of men with the same income reported using the drug.
“Our findings are consistent with other studies [which showed] increased substance use during times of economic insecurity, especially among men,” Hasin stated.
Hasin linked the recent data to the Great Recession, which began in December 2007, and pointed out that drug use has been historically associated with lower employment rates and weak economies.
“As these patterns are only associations, research is needed to track individual changes in marijuana use over time, in response to personal financial fluctuations,” she stated. “This may vary between men and women.”
Women are now closing the alcoholic gender gap but since substance use disorder is commonly more prominent among men, some of these findings do not come as a surprise. However, this research is one of the only recent assessments of marijuana use that takes into consideration gender and economic differences.
“Researchers should continue to monitor prevalence of use at a national level and use this evidence to help explain changing patterns in substance use disorders, injury morbidity and mortality, and use of other substances,” Hasin wrote.
No comments:
Post a Comment