Marijuana use among young adults is at an all-time high, study finds

By Najja Parker,

The National Institute on Drug Abuse recently released the results of its latest study, which examined trends on substance use among non-college and college young adults.

For their evaluation, the researchers surveyed people, aged 19 to 22, from across the United States.

After analyzing the results, they found more than 13 percent of young adults not in college reported using marijuana daily or near daily, which is the highest level ever among the group. As a result, they said daily marijuana use is now three times as high among non-college young adults as among college students.

Vaping marijuana was also higher among non-college young adults than among college students.

Nearly 8 percent of non-college adults vaped, compared to 5.2 percent of college students.

The largest difference between daily rates for college students and non-college adults was in the cigarette category. About 14 percent of non-college peers smoked daily, while just 2 percent of college students smoked every day. Past month use of vaping nicotine was also higher, with about 8 percent of non-college adults vaping nicotine, compared to 6 percent of college students.

While misuse of Vicodin in both college and non-college peers dropped about 8 percent within the last eight years, synthetic drug use over the last year was higher in non-college peers than in college students.