Marijuana

Ever Used Marijuana – A higher percentage of adult males used marijuana at least once in their lifetime than adult females. Figure 4.1 presents the percent of adults in Kentucky who used marijuana. Table 4.1 presents the estimated number of adult Kentuckians who used marijuana at least once in their lifetime.

Figure 4.1: Percent of adults who used marijuana at least once in their life (question D1)

Table 4.1 Estimated number of adult Kentuckians who used marijuana at least once in their life (question D1)

Age of First Use – The average age of first use of marijuana for adult Kentuckians was 18.0 years old, 17.7 for males, 18.4 for females. Persons who described their race/ethnicity as Asian smoked marijuana at an earlier age than other races. Figure 4.2 presents the average age of first use by race. No differences were noted for age of first use between income levels.

Figure 4.2: Average age of first use of marijuana by race/ethnicity (question D2)

Time Since Last Use – Of those adult persons who reported ever smoking marijuana, a large majority did not use marijuana in the past year. Figure 4.3 presents the distribution of time since last use for those who reported ever using marijuana. There were no significant differences between gender for persons who reported their last use at least one year before, however, males were more likely to smoke marijuana in the last 30 days than females. Tables 4.2 and 4.3 present the estimated number of adult Kentuckians who used marijuana in the past 30 days and past 12 months. Of those persons who reported using marijuana in the past 30 days, 19.6% of males and 17.1% of females reported using it every day. Table 4.4 presents the estimated number of adult Kentuckians who used marijuana every day in the past 30 days.

Figure 4.3: Time since last marijuana use for adults who ever used marijuana (question D3)

Table 4.2: Estimated number of adult Kentuckians who used marijuana in the past 30 days (question D3)

Table 4.3: Estimated number of adult Kentuckians who used marijuana in the past 12 months (question D3)

Table 4.4: Estimated number of adult Kentuckians who used marijuana every day in the past 30 days (question D5)

Ever Thought Marijuana a Problem – Of those persons who reported ever using marijuana, males were more likely than females to have ever thought that marijuana was a problem. Figure 4.4 presents the percent of persons who used marijuana who thought marijuana was a problem at some point in their life. Of persons who reported using marijuana every day in the past 30 days, 29.2% have ever thought that marijuana was a problem. Of those persons who considered marijuana a problem at some point in their life, 81.6% did not use marijuana in at least one year.

Figure 4.4: Percent of adults who used marijuana and considered marijuana to have ever been a problem in their life (question D6)