Jan. 31, 2023 -- Teenagers used marijuana less in the first year of the pandemic, a new study shows, while adult use of cannabis, illegal drugs and alcohol stayed the same or increased.
“Substance use decreased between 2019 and 2020 among those aged 13 to 20 years; consistent declines were not seen in older persons other than tobacco use reductions, and cannabis use increased among adults ages 25 years and older,” says the study published in the journal JAMA Network Open on Tuesday.
Among kids 13 to 15, cannabis use fell 3.4% in 2020 compared to 2018 and 2019; tobacco use fell 4%; and the use of other illegal or misused prescription drugs declined 2.5%.
For teens 16 and 17, marijuana use fell 7.3%; tobacco use by more than 10% and misuse by almost 3 points.
“I think availability plays a big part,” said Joseph Palamar, an associate professor of population health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study, on CNN.com. “If high schoolers are separated from their friends for a long time and stuck inside, they’ll likely have decreased access to drugs.
“Even if a teen successfully obtained weed, this doesn’t mean he or she had somewhere away from parents to smoke it if the whole family was on lockdown.”
Among adults 21 to 24, alcohol use rose from 60.2% to 65.2%. Tobacco use fell 8%. The rates for pot, illegal or misused prescription drugs didn’t change much, the study says.
The report used data from the Population Assessment and Tobacco Health (PATH) Study. It tracks use among almost 50,000 people, including adults and youths.