Increasing number of US adults using marijuana as fewer people perceive the drug as harmful
While the study did not find an increase in the overall prevalence of marijuana use disorders (marijuana abuse or dependence) among US adults, it was not able to fully assess the impact of recent changes to state-level cannabis laws on widening use, and the authors say that continued monitoring of marijuana use and disorders at national and state-level is needed. The authors note that the study did not look at use among children or teenagers, or the link between marijuana use and other more severe psychiatric disorders. The study analysed data from 596500 adults aged 18 or older who took part in the annual US National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) from 2002 to 2014. Marijuana use (defined as having used marijuana in the previous year) increased from 10.4% in 2002 to 13.3% in 2014. The proportion of adults who first started using marijuana in the previous year increased from 0.7% in 2002 to 1.1% in 2014. The prevalence of daily or near daily use (defined as people who repo...