Cannabis use is on the rise in the US – except among younger teens

Hashish is essentially the most used illicit substance on the planet, with an estimated 219 million people using it in 2021. Nowhere is it extra in style than within the US and Canada.

In 2021, 52 million people aged 12 and older within the US used hashish, roughly 1 in 5 individuals on this age group. These figures have been inching upwards over the previous few many years – a indisputable fact that isn’t that stunning given the expanded entry to authorized (or quasi-legal) hashish and a shift in attitudes in the direction of the drug.

The uptick in use, ease of entry and elevated social acceptability of the drug have some consultants – and fogeys – nervous, notably about elevated use amongst adolescents. That’s with good purpose: a rising physique of proof suggests hashish use throughout adolescence may affect brain development, probably growing the danger for growing numerous mental health conditions or substance use disorders.

But thus far, fears of a surge in adolescent hashish use haven’t been borne out by the info. Outcomes from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an annual survey carried out by the Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Providers Administration, confirmed that charges of past-month hashish use amongst teenagers aged 12 to 17 within the US have really declined over the previous 20 years: from 8.1 per cent in 2002 to 4.8 per cent in 2021.

As an alternative, the rise in hashish use is being pushed totally by adults. The 12 to 17-year-old crowd now has the bottom charges of past-month hashish.

Some well being professionals are sceptical that we’re seeing the complete image on the subject of teen use, nevertheless. “I can not imagine that that’s true, that it has not gone up,” says scientific psychiatrist Ryan Sultan at Columbia College in New York. “Each different piece of data would counsel it must be going up.”

For example, we all know that extra individuals now consider hashish as a comparatively benign substance. “On the whole, when perceptions of issues transfer towards security… that will increase the probability” of use, says Sultan. Legalisation of leisure hashish has additionally been linked to elevated uptick in use of the drug.

Sultan isn’t ruling out the chance that expanded legalisation has diminished the drug’s attract, or that youngsters are selecting to attend till they’re older to make use of weed. If these issues transform true, it will be welcome information, he says. However he thinks it’s extra possible there’s a lacking piece to the puzzle, hidden by a lag within the knowledge assortment.