The study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analyzed data from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) collected between 2016 and 2020. The researchers included responses only from those who worked for wages, were self-employed or who had been unemployed for less than one year. The study, which was published online last month by the peer-reviewed American Journal of Public Health, included data from 128,615 people in 15 states including Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Data Analyzed By Industry And Occupation Group
By industry, the three sectors with the highest reported rates of cannabis use “were accommodation and food services (20.7%); arts, entertainment, and recreation (17.5%); and construction (15.9%),” the study reads. “The 3 industry groups with the lowest prevalence were management of companies and enterprises (5.4%); public administration (3.7%); and utilities (3.4%).”
The researchers also analyzed the data by occupation group and found that the three groups with the highest prevalence of marijuana use “were food preparation and serving related (21.9%); arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (17.0%); and construction and extraction (15.5%),” it continues. “The 3 occupation groups with the lowest prevalence were education, training, and library (5.7%); health care practitioners and technical (4.7%); and protective services (4.4%).”
“The overall weighted prevalence of past 30-day cannabis use in 15 states was approximately 10.7% for workers aged 18 years or older,” the researchers wrote in their conclusion.
The authors noted that the study’s findings are fairly consistent with data from the 2021 National Survey of Drug Use and Health, which found that 13.0% of respondents aged 12 and over reported using marijuana in the past month.
“Our lower estimates might be a result of restricting the analysis to employed (or recently employed) adults,” the researchers noted. “Furthermore, the NSDUH sample included 19 states that had legalized cannabis for nonmedical use. Only 2 of 15 states in our sample had legalized nonmedical cannabis during the full study period.”
H/T: www.forbes.com
