Background: Despite insufficient evidence regarding its risks and benefits, marijuana is increasingly available and is aggressively marketed to the public.
Objective: To understand the public's views on the risks and benefits of marijuana use.
Design: Probability-based online survey.
Setting: United States, 2017.
Participants: 16 280 U.S. adults.
Measurements: Proportion of U.S. adults who agreed with a statement.
Results: The response rate was 55.3% (n = 9003). Approximately 14.6% of U.S. adults reported using marijuana in the past year. About 81% of U.S. adults believe marijuana has at least 1 benefit, whereas 17% believe it has no benefit. The most common benefit cited was pain management (66%), followed by treatment of diseases, such as epilepsy and multiple sclerosis (48%), and relief from anxiety, stress, and depression (47%). About 91% of U.S. adults believe marijuana has at least 1 risk, whereas 9% believe it has no risks. The most common risk identified by the public was legal problems (51.8%), followed by addiction (50%) and impaired memory (42%). Among U.S. adults, 29.2% agree that smoking marijuana prevents health problems. About 18% believe exposure to secondhand marijuana smoke is somewhat or completely safe for adults, whereas 7.6% indicated that it is somewhat or completely safe for children. Of the respondents, 7.3% agree that marijuana use is somewhat or completely safe during pregnancy. About 22.4% of U.S. adults believe that marijuana is not at all addictive.
Limitation: Wording of the questions may have affected interpretation.
Conclusion: Americans' view of marijuana use is more favorable than existing evidence supports.
Primary Funding Source: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6157909 | PMC |
http://dx.doi.org/10.7326/M18-0810 | DOI Listing |
JMIR Res Protoc
January 2025
Clinical Informatics and Health Outcomes Research Group, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Background: There are gaps in our understanding of the clinical characteristics and disease burden of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) among community-dwelling adults. This is in part due to a lack of routine testing at the point of care. More data would enhance our assessment of the need for an RSV vaccination program for adults in the United Kingdom.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJMIR Res Protoc
January 2025
Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Background: An aging population in combination with more gentle and less stressful surgical procedures leads to an increased number of operations on older patients. This collectively raises novel challenges due to higher age heavily impacting treatment. A major problem, emerging in up to 50% of cases, is perioperative delirium.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJAMA Netw Open
January 2025
Division of Geriatrics, School of Medicine, University of California San Francisco.
Importance: The Walter Index is a widely used prognostic tool for assessing 12-month mortality risk among hospitalized older adults. Developed in the US in 2001, its accuracy in contemporary non-US contexts is unclear.
Objective: To evaluate the external validity of the Walter Index in predicting posthospitalization mortality risk in Brazilian older adult inpatients.
J Stud Alcohol Drugs
January 2025
Department of Psychology/Women's & Gender Studies within Interdisciplinary and Critical Studies, University of Windsor.
Objective: One in five college women experiences sexual assault (SA). Feminist scholars have called for the use of programming that empowers women by increasing their ability to recognize and resist SA. One such program, the Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act SA Resistance Education Program (EAAA), has demonstrated lower rates of SA up to 24 months (Senn et al.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEndocrine
January 2025
Adelaide Medical School, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Purpose: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of risk factors that increase the risk of cardiometabolic diseases. The prevalence of MetS and individual components across pregnancy has not been reviewed in the literature. This research was conducted to identify the prevalence of MetS and its components among pregnant women.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!