A study shows the great increase of marijuana consumption among American adults since the legalization of the illicit pot for medical and recreational use by some regions.
On Thursday, Lancet Psychiatry published a study exposing that more adults in the United States are consuming cannabis almost every day than they did 12 years ago. From the author's analyzed data, it shows that the number of American adults aged 18 and up, leaped to 8.4 million from 3.9 million. These 596,500 adults partook in the yearly U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health beginning 2002 to 2014.
The reason for that is fewer Americans find the substance dangerous based on the study. In 2002, roughly 51 percent of the 595,500 adult respondents stated that smoking pot once or two times a week could possibly be "greatly harmful," while in 2014, only 33.3 percent cited the weed that way, Fortune reported.
Researches annotated that the turn on how people perceived and consumed cannabis started in 2007. That being said, there are already 12 U.S. states that approved marijuana for medicinal purposes. Transition on the policy could have influenced the number of people using weed and how they see it, researchers suggested.
"I hope my medical colleagues will start inquiring of their adult patients if they are using marijuana because it could interact with other medications or treatments," says study author Dr. Wilson Compton of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "The fact that people are using it on a regular basis means the public health community needs to be paying attention."
Study authors wrote that in order to "target the reduction in perceived harm of using marijuana," there should be impediment exertion. They further added that heavy cannabis consumption is related to having no jobs, unfair income, less satisfaction in life and criminal behavior. However, it wasn't proven that the weed induced those issues, as reported by Time.
Under Federal law, cannabis stays illicit and listed as a Schedule I drug by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Already 25 states along with the District of Columbia have laws on marijuana and beginning 2014, Colorado and Washington started permitting sales for recreational marijuana. Alaska as well as Oregon can now sell without the doctor's prescription.