Men More Likely to Use Marijuana Than Women

MONDAY, Dec. 5, 2016 (HealthDay Information) -- As extra American adults select to puff on the marijuana pipe, a gender distinction is changing into clear -- males are considerably extra prone to smoke pot than ladies, a brand new research finds.

In contrast with 2002, an extra 6 million males reported past-year pot smoking in 2014. For girls, that quantity was four million, the researchers stated.

Use remained at about 13 p.c for males and seven p.c for girls for plenty of years. However after 2007, use rose about four p.c amongst males and three p.c amongst ladies, in keeping with research authors Hannah Carliner and Deborah Hasin. They're epidemiologists on the Columbia College Mailman College of Public Well being in New York Metropolis.

"These adjustments parallel nationwide traits in decreased perceived harmfulness of marijuana use, and legalization of each leisure and medical use in over half of U.S. states," Carliner stated in a college information launch.

"Nevertheless, adjustments in attitudes and legality don't sufficiently clarify why we observe a pointy improve in use in 2007, or why this improve was higher in males than in ladies," she added.

Additional investigation revealed that the widening gender hole was pushed by individuals with low incomes. Between 2007 and 2014, marijuana use elevated about 6 p.c amongst males in households incomes lower than $20,000 yearly, in comparison with solely 2 p.c of ladies in that group.

These will increase corresponded to the beginning of the Nice Recession and rising unemployment charges in 2007, in keeping with the report.

The stress of monetary struggles might assist clarify elevated marijuana use amongst males with low incomes, the research authors prompt.

"Whereas an financial restoration started round 2012, it largely bypassed males within the low-income manufacturing and development fields, the place incomes and employment charges remained low," Carliner stated.

In response to Hasin, the findings "are according to different latest nationwide research documenting rising charges of illness and loss of life associated to substance use amongst middle-aged low socioeconomic standing white Individuals."

Carliner added that figuring out high-risk durations and teams of individuals may assist goal prevention efforts sooner or later.

The report was revealed on-line not too long ago within the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.