Even as states legalize cannabis, more young people try alcohol before they try weed, study finds

Legal cannabis may be easier to come by, but a new study suggests that young people are still trying cigarettes and alcohol before they take their first puffs of weed.

A new analysis published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence found that alcohol is still the most common “substance initiation” for young people. That means 52% of the 8,000 people ages 18 to 24 tracked over the life of a six-year study drank booze before they tried cigarettes or pot.

“Alcohol is overwhelmingly tried before either tobacco or cannabis,” wrote the University of Oklahoma researchers behind the report, which tracked data from 2013 through 2019 — a time when many states began legalizing cannabis for recreational or medical use.

The study authors noted that just 6% of the young people in their analysis began their substance use with cannabis. What’s more, they said the data suggest that experiencing cannabis first may even may even lower risks of future alcohol abuse.

“Cannabis initiation at an earlier age than alcohol and tobacco is uncommon,” the authors concluded. “Those who initiated cannabis before alcohol and tobacco appeared less likely to have a wide constellation of substance use and mental health vulnerabilities compared to those who tried cannabis at the same age as they tried at least one other substance.”

Conversely, those who began using cannabis use at the same time they began consuming alcohol and tobacco — or 22% of those in the survey — were more likely to report use of multiple drugs later later in their lives, according to the study.

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This article appears in Jun 14-27, 2023.