Survey: More US adults use marijuana, don’t think it’s risky

The Big Story 31 August 2016
Family First Comment: More are using marijuana, using it more often and far fewer think it’s risky, the government survey found.
That runs counter to scientific research about pot, said Dr. Wilson Compton, lead author of the study published online Wednesday by the journal Lancet Psychiatry. “If anything, science has shown an increasing risk that we weren’t as aware of years ago.”

Marijuana use is becoming more accepted among U.S. adults as states loosen pot laws, new national survey data shows.
More are using marijuana, using it more often and far fewer think it’s risky, the government survey found.
That’s understandable, experts say, as dozens of states now allow medical marijuana and four states have recently legalized pot for recreational use.

More than a half million U.S. adults participated in the survey over a dozen years, and the responses show a shift in attitude. Only a third of adults in 2014 said they thought weekly marijuana use was dangerous, down from half of adults in 2002.
That runs counter to scientific research about pot, said Dr. Wilson Compton, lead author of the study published online Wednesday by the journal Lancet Psychiatry.
“If anything, science has shown an increasing risk that we weren’t as aware of years ago,” said Compton, deputy director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Other research has increasingly linked marijuana use to mental impairment, and early, heavy use by people with certain genes to increased risk of developing psychosis, he noted.
READ MORE: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/1f898fb97ca04844b995190ec8a9365d/survey-more-us-adults-use-marijuana-dont-think-its-risky

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