Stats Can reports on pot usage
The report is based upon data from the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey on mental health and 25,000 Canadians 15 and older took part. The survey asked them if they had ever used marijuana or hashish, and if they had whether they’d used in the past 12 months.
The dramatic change? The survey found that among those teens between 15 and 17, only 25 percent said they’d used marijuana or hashish ever. That number among the same demographic in 2002 was much higher at 40 percent.
Meanwhile, 33 percent of young persons between 18 and 24 reported they had used marijuana in the past year. That age group is the largest consumer of pot in the country. Eight percent of them said they used marijuana weekly and five percent said they use it daily.
Stats Can said that “about 12% of Canadians aged 15 or older (3.4 million) used marijuana in the year prior to the survey.” Marijuana usage was much more prevalent among males, with 16 percent of males using pot in the previous 12 months, while only 8 percent of females did.
Marijuana and developing brains
The drop in usage amongst teens comes at a time when studies are finding that marijuana is especially dangerous for developing brains. Last month a study from Harvard Medical School concluded that there is a “need for widespread education and intervention efforts among youth” after finding teens who started smoking marijuana before 16 scored poorly on tests determining brain damage.
Other studies have produced even more alarming results. A study published in 2012 tracked over 1,000 teens from New Zealand and found those who used marijuana more than once per week suffered a loss of intelligence. On average they lost eight points on IQ tests and even those who quit using marijuana, the study found, did not regain lost IQ points.
Further, Stats Can notes that “about 97% of Canadians who have used other illicit drugs (such as cocaine, hallucinogens and heroin) and 72% who have used psychotherapeutic pharmaceuticals (such as sedatives, stimulants and opioid analgesics) for non-medical purposes, have also used marijuana.”
Because these numbers on marijuana usage come from respondents self-reporting, Stats Can points out that despite the survey being anonymous, they may be subject to a “social desirability bias.”
