Marijuana Use and Perceived Risk of Harm from Marijuana Use Varies within and across States

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Marijuana Use and Perceived Risk of Harm from Marijuana Use Varies within and across States

MARIJUANA USE AND PERCEIVED RISK OF HARM FROM MARIJUANA USE VARIES WITHIN AND ACROSS STATES

AUTHORS

Arthur Hughes, M.S., Rachel N. Lipari, Ph.D., and Matthew R. Williams, Ph.D.

In Brief

• National Survey on Drug Use and Health from 2012 to 2014 data collected from 204,000 people aged 12 or older show that marijuana use and perceptions of the risk associated with marijuana use vary extensively among regions within each state and throughout the nation.

• About 7.73 percent of people aged 12 or older used marijuana in the past month. Past month marijuana use varied across census regions: 9.70 percent in the West, 8.36 percent in the Northeast, 7.28 percent in the Midwest, and 6.43 percent in the South. At the substate level, past month marijuana use ranged from 3.93 percent in a substate region in the southernmost part of Texas to 15.46 percent in San Francisco, California.

• Across the nation, 28.50 percent of people aged 12 or older perceived a great risk of harm from monthly marijuana use; however, the percentages of people who perceive a great risk of harm from monthly marijuana use varied across census regions: 32.60 percent in the South, 26.56 percent in the Northeast, 26.11 percent in the Midwest, and 25.64 percent in the West. At the substate level, perceptions of great risk of harm from monthly marijuana use ranged from 14.15 percent in Ward 3 in the District of Columbia to 49.29 percent in Florida’s combined Circuits 11 and 16, which include Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties.