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

More young adults are using marijuana, according to a new report.

On Sept. 5, the National Institute on Drug Abuse released the results of its latest study, which examined trends on substance use among noncollege and college young adults.

For its evaluation, the researchers surveyed people, ages 19 to 22, across the United States.

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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 noncollege young adults as among college students.

Vaping marijuana was also higher among noncollege young adults than among college students. Nearly 8 percent of noncollege adults vaped, compared with 5.2 percent of college students.

Credit: Jasper Juinen

Credit: Jasper Juinen

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

While misuse of Vicodin in both college and noncollege peers decreased from 2009 to 2017, synthetic drug use over the last year was higher in noncollege peers than in college students.

More about the findings is at the NIH website.

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