Past-Month Use Rises Among Adults, Minors, Outpacing National Average
(HARTFORD, CT) – Marijuana use among adults and children has grown in the wake of Connecticut’s embrace of pot-profiteers and their dangerous, psychoactive drugs.
According to a new report from the Connecticut Department of Health, past-year and past-month marijuana use among those 12 and older is higher than the national average. The industry’s key target, young people 18 to 25 years-old, reported the highest usage of any age category for past-year marijuana use and past-month marijuana use. Connecticut’s report also found that among young adults ages 18 to 25, only 12% perceived monthly marijuana use as a great risk.
“Pot profiteers have peddled a myth that marijuana use isn’t harmful and can even be recreation, but we know that’s not true,” said Dr. Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and a former three-time White House drug policy advisor. “Connecticut’s report is latest example of how the industry’s misinformation campaign has taken root and is sowing seeds of disaster for future generations. On the heels of national data that shows daily marijuana use surpassing alcohol use, it’s clear that mass commercialization of THC drugs is leading to cultural shifts that will undoubtedly create the next Big Tobacco.”
The prevalence of adults using marijuana and THC drugs in Connecticut increased following the state’s embrace of legalization, with half of adult past-month cannabis users reporting they used marijuana nearly every day. Black residents continue to have the highest rates of marijuana-related emergency visits and inpatient hospitalizations of any race and ethnicity group.
“The industry has a history of preying on young people, low-income communities, and communities of color, a pattern they’re replicating in Connecticut to hook a new generation of users on increasingly potent products. Today’s high-potency marijuana and THC drugs are medically and scientifically linked to lower IQ, psychosis, depression, suicidality, motor impairment, and schizophrenia, among other consequences. Those consequences will only get worse, especially for young people, as the industry continues to push its kid-friendly THC-laced drugs like candies, sodas, cookies, gummies, and other products, some of which can have 99 percent potency,” Sabet added.