LIFESTYLE CANNABIS
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Drug Use Under Covid Is Approaching Historic High, Alcohol Consumption Is Falling for College Students BY JEAN-GABRIEL FERNANDEZ
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arijuana use among young adults (ages 19-30) increased to alltime highs in 2020, which was true for annual use, 30-day use and daily use,” according to the federal government’s Monitoring the Future annual study. Among young adults, 42% used marijuana in the past year, 27% used it in the past month, and nearly 10% reported consuming marijuana daily throughout 2020. The 21-26-year-old cohort, largely comprised of college students, uses marijuana at higher-than-average rates.
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Monitoring the Future has been chronicling substance use across the nation for nearly 50 years. The newest edition, published in September 2021, contains data gathered in the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, from March to November 2020. While the study is usually a hallmark of slow and steady cultural shifts, the newest edition addresses the effects of a worldwide pandemic on the demand for mind-altering substances.
Indeed, the study notes a significant dampening effect on alcohol consumption among young adults. Although alcohol use is usually steady from year to year, researchers found an uncharacteristic drop in 2020. People were significantly less likely to drink any alcohol at all, and they were even less likely to have experienced being drunk. The number of young adults reporting having been drunk in the past month fell five percentage points, to 31% of surveyed individuals. Researchers point to “a possible pandemic effect in terms of reduced social time.”
