Cannabis Use among Teens Stable, Increasing in Developing Countries

A new study looks at cannabis use among teenagers in different countries. Though findings reveal that cannabis use is gradually declining in richer nations, study authors have found that it has stabilized or is increasing in developing ones.

Researchers looked at cannabis use among 15-year-old adolescents in thirty European and North American countries from 2002, 2006 and 2010.

They found that cannabis use in Western and Southern European, along with North American countries, including Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal and the United States, have all shown a decrease in the drug's consumption, particularly for the age-range of participants involved in the study.

However, they note that emerging countries that may have recently experienced a rapid increase via GDP have seen higher consumption rates of the drug. For instance, study authors found that three of the twelve former communist countries located in Eastern, Central and Southern Europe showed an increase use of cannabis, particularly among boys in Macedona, Lithuania and Latvia and among girls in Russia. For the remaining nine countries, the patterns of drug use seem to have stabilized over time.

Researchers believe a reduction in cannabis use found in richer countries may be due to public attention regarding health risks and consequences for using the drug.

Cannabis, a generic term used for various preparations of the plant Cannabis sativa, contains a major psychoactive constituent.  Abusing cannabis can create harmful short-term cognitive development and long-term memory over extended use. It can also cause airway obstruction, lung inflammation or acute or chrnoic bronchitis if used excessively. Some studies have even suggested that extended use can create an emotional addiction to the drug. 

However, the World health Organization notes that cannabinoids, an extract obtained from the resin of the plant material, can also hold therapeutic purposes. For instance, previous studies have shown that they can help prevent nausea or vomiting in the advanced stages of such illnesses as cancer and AIDS. They may also help treat asthma or glaucoma and can work as an appetite stimulant.

Despite the study's findings, today in the United States alone, 20 states legally allow medical marijuana, not including DC, and two states have also legalized marijuana for recreational use. 

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More information regarding the study can be found via the journal Addiction.