A new study has found out just how many adults in Massachusetts have used recreational marijuana in the last 30 days.
The number? 21%. This figure is among the highest in the U.S.
State legislators had requested the report before legal recreational marijuana sales begin.
he report encompassed overall use of the drug as well as how adults consume it, hospitalization, economic impact, and how often they drive under the influence of the drug.
It found that young adults are driving the high use rates in the state with half of all 18-25 year olds in the survey saying they smoked or vaped the drug, or ate a marijuana edible in the past 30 days.
Steven Davenport, an assistant policy researcher at the RAND Corporation in Boston remarked, “Those numbers are off the charts, just massively higher than those you see recorded in data sets like the National Study on Drug Use and Health.”
“If you use cannabis, it’s going to affect your ability to drive,” said Dr. Kevin Hill, the director of addiction psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
He added, “And young people should be aware that if they’re using cannabis in a chronic way that if may affect their ability to think critically and may affect your brain’s function moving forward.”
Other highlights from the report include: 26 percent of residents who used marijuana in the last 30 days are men while 17 percent are women. Overall use is highest in western Massachusetts at 30 percent and 71 percent of adult users are white.
