Session: Marijuana Use and Related Problems: Implications for Policy (Society for Prevention Research 23rd Annual Meeting)

In 2013, 40% of 9^th-12^th graders reported lifetime use of marijuana, and 23% reported past 30-day use. Given recent changes in state policies surrounding marijuana (e.g., decriminalization, legalization for medicinal use, and legalization for recreational use), it is important to examine patterns of marijuana use among adolescents and young adults, and to consider how policy changes may impact use. This symposium includes a panel of papers that use data from longitudinal studies of substance use and risk behaviors to examine: (1) national trends in adolescent marijuana use since 1999, (2) outcomes in emerging adulthood associated with adolescent marijuana and alcohol use, and (3) cannabis use problems among emerging adults who use marijuana simultaneously with tobacco in the form of “blunts”. The first paper uses data from CDC’s national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) to examine trends in marijuana use among 9^th-12^th graders, from 1999-2013, by sex and race/ethnicity. Marijuana use variables to be addressed include: any lifetime use, repeated lifetime use, past 30-day use, any use before age 13, repeated past 30-day use, and frequent use. The second paper uses data from a longitudinal study of low-income, urban youth in Baltimore, MD to examine the association between adolescent use of marijuana and/or alcohol with the following adverse outcomes in emerging adulthood (i.e., aged 19-25 years): drug dependence, socioeconomic status, employment, and sexual risk behaviors. The aim is to compare outcomes across those who use marijuana vs. alcohol. The third paper uses data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2009-2012) to examine whether young adults who use blunts (vs. marijuana without tobacco) have higher levels of cannabis use problems (e.g., increased tolerance, inability to stop using). It is widely suspected that adolescent marijuana use will increase as a result of changes in state policies, and this set of papers will examine how increased use may impact subsequent outcomes. The first paper will describe the extent to which patterns of adolescent use may change over the next 10 years. The second and third papers will describe how increases in use may impact changes in related problems, such as the prevalence of cannabis use disorders and involvement with the criminal justice system. An expert in substance use epidemiology will serve as a discussant, thereby identifying common themes across the presentations, implications for prevention and policy, and areas for future research.