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Many Kids Useing Pot Before Tobacco:Study Says

By Hempology | December 11, 2006

MANY YOUNG ADULTS USING POT BEFORE TOBACCO: STUDY

Some young people start off by smoking marijuana before they try cigarettes, says Dr.  Scott Leatherdale, researcher at Cancer Care Ontario, University of Waterloo and University of Toronto.

That’s quite the opposite of how things used to be years ago.

“We do have some evidence that shows there is a population of kids who use marijuana before tobacco,” said Leatherdale, who was in Niagara Falls speaking at the Ontario Tobacco Control conference held at the Sheraton on the Falls. 

There are other kids who will try marijuana and tobacco at about the same time.

More than 550 tobacco control health professionals, members of health organizations and other interested individuals are attending the three-day conference that began Monday.

According to a 2004 Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey, there has been a steady increase in marijuana use over the past decade.

In 1994, 28 per cent of Canadian young adults 18 years and older reported using marijuana at least once in their life.  Today, that number has increased to 45 per cent.  Fourteen per cent reported using marijuana this past year, indicating a seven per cent increase since 1994.

“We’re doing more and more research with young adults in the area of tobacco control.  The more we talk to them about tobacco use, the more we hear about marijuana use, so we decided to look at that,” said Leatherdale.

Despite the obvious problem of increased usage, he added, there is the issue of using tobacco in joints or pipe smoking to assist in burning or enhancing the effect of the marijuana.

Leatherdale said there is a misconception that marijuana use is healthier than tobacco and that may not be the case.  There is limited data available to actually make that determination.

“It’s likely that it will have the same negative health effects because it is a combustible product that is inhaled,” said Leatherdale.

In 2004, approximately 1.9 million Canadians between the ages of 15 and 24 reported trying marijuana and 1.1 million reported using in the last year.

While 590,000 reported using pot three or less times per month, 430,000 of all young adults reported using marijuana weekly or daily.

Leatherdale said another big problem is young adults from rural communities experiment more with substances like this and have a higher frequency of use than young adults from urban communities.

In addition, studies also indicate a substantial number of former smokers reported using marijuana, which may cause a relapse to tobacco addiction. 

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