NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEY ON DRUG ABUSE: marijuana table 9

1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse

Marijuana (Table 9.1)

An estimated 4% of the total population aged 12 or older experienced one or more problems in the past 12 months that were related to their use of marijuana in this same time period, 2% experienced at least two problems, and 1% experienced at least three problems related to their marijuana use. Among people aged 12 or older who used marijuana at least once in the past year, 39% had at least one problem related to their use, 25% had two or more problems, and 16% had at least three problems. Given an estimate of 19,446,000 past year marijuana users (see Table 2.1), these percentages translate to about 7.6 million past year marijuana users who experienced one or more marijuana-related problems in this same time period, about 4.8 million past year users who experienced two or more problems, and about 3.1 million past year users who experienced three or more problems (data not shown in Table 9.1). Among those who used marijuana on 12 or more days during the past year, 58% had at least one problem, 41% had at least two problems, and 28% experienced three or more components of marijuana dependence.

The most frequently reported problem related to marijuana use across all age groups and frequency-of-use levels was having had a period of a month or more during the past year in which people spent a great deal of time getting marijuana, using it, or getting over its effects. About one-fourth of past year marijuana users and more than 40% of people who used marijuana on 12 or more days in the past year reported this problem.

Use of marijuana more often or in larger amounts than intended and building up tolerance to marijuana's effects were typically the next most commonly occurring problems among past year users and among people who used marijuana on 12 or more days in the past 12 months. About 19% of past year marijuana users used the drug more often or in larger amounts than they intended in the past 12 months, and 19% built up tolerance to the effects of marijuana. Among people who used marijuana on 12 or more days in the past year, 32% indicated symptoms suggestive of the development of tolerance, and 30% used the drug more often or in larger amounts than intended. In addition, about 11% of past year users and 17% of people who used marijuana on 12 or more days in the past year wanted or tried to cut down on their marijuana use but were unable to do so. Occurrence of these symptoms suggests "loss of control" or the development of physiological dependence on marijuana.

In the population as a whole, young adults aged 18 to 25 and youths aged 12 to 17 had the highest percentages of individuals who experienced problems related to marijuana use. Past year marijuana use, however, was most prevalent among these two age groups (see Table 3.2).

Among past year marijuana users and users on 12 or more days in the past year, the percentages who reported problems were greatest in the youngest age group and decreased with each older age group. For example, 57% of the 12- to 17-year-old past year users reported any problems compared with 45% of 18 to 25 year olds, 33% of 26 to 34 year olds, and 25% of those 35 or older (the difference between these two older groups was not statistically significant). Moreover, nearly three-fourths of youths aged 12 to 17 who used marijuana on 12 or more days in the past year experienced any problems related to their use, 57% of these youths experienced two or more problems, and 42% experienced three or more problems. Similarly, nearly two-thirds of young adults aged 18 to 25 who used marijuana on 12 or more days in the past year experienced at least one marijuana-related problem, nearly half experienced at least two problems, and nearly one-third experienced at least three problems.

This page was last updated on June 16, 2008.

SAMHSA, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal Government's lead agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services in the United States.

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