Young cannabis-smokers aware of the health risks
91 percent of on average 20-year-old Swiss men drink alcohol, almost half of whom drink six beverages or more in a row and are thus at-risk consumers. 44 percent of Swiss men smoke tobacco, the majority of whom are at-risk consumers – they smoke at least once a day. 36 percent of young adults smoke cannabis, whereby over half are at-risk consumers, using the drug at least twice a week. Researchers from the University of Zurich’s Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine investigated whether these young Swiss men read up on addictive substances such as alcohol, tobacco, cannabis or other drugs and are aware and understand the risks of their consumption by conducting a survey of 12,000 men under a national cohort study as they were recruited for national service.
Those who consume more likely to seek information
16 percent of the young Swiss men surveyed had used electronic media in the last 12 months to actively find out more about addictive substances. 20 percent of at-risk consumers of alcohol or tobacco did so, along with 38 percent of at-risk consumers of cannabis. Moreover, at-risk consumers of alcohol or tobacco seek information two and a half times more frequently than abstainers. Cannabis-consumers research addictive substances four times more frequently and the at-risk consumers among them even five times more frequently than those who don’t smoke cannabis. “The search for information greatly depends on the substance consumed. Generally, consumers of addictive substances are more likely to seek information on addictive substances compared to abstainers,” explains Meichun Mohler-Kuo, a lecturer at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine.
Over 70 percent of the men surveyed who consume addictive substances and especially the at-risk consumers rate their knowledge of the health consequences of alcohol, tobacco or cannabis consumption as very good, thereby reporting their knowledge as better than abstainers in this respect. Men from the Suisse romande (French-speaking Switzerland) and high school graduates rate their knowledge of the health risks of excessive consumption as slightly better than German-speaking Swiss and men with a lower level of education.
Information as prevention comes up short
Prevention campaigns that are designed to open young people’s eyes to the risks of addictive substances and deter them are normally based on providing information. “Information alone, however, is insufficient as a preventive measure. It needs differentiated approaches for informed consumers,” says Mohler-Kuo. Consequently, media campaigns for the prevention of substance abuse should be viewed with a critical eye. “It is important to examine and develop preventive measures that take the competence of well-informed young people and young adults into account.”
Marijuana may trigger strokes in young adults, according to preliminary research presented today at an international medical conference.
New Zealand researchers reviewed urine samples taken from 160 stroke sufferers between the ages of 18 and 55, and discovered the patients were more than twice as likely to have pot, or cannabis, in their system.
“Cannabis has been thought by the public to be a relatively safe, although illegal substance,” study author Dr. P. Alan Barber, professor of clinical neurology at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, said in a statement to the American Heart Association. “This study shows this might not be the case; it may lead to stroke.”
Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States, taken by 7 percent of Americans according to a 2012 government survey.
###
Literature:
Young people who smoke cannabis for years run the risk of a significant and irreversible reduction in their IQ, research suggests.
The findings come from a study of around 1,000 people in New Zealand.
An international team found those who started using cannabis below the age of 18 - while their brains were still developing - suffered a drop in IQ.
A UK expert said the research might explain why people who use the drug often seem to under-achieve.
For more than 20 years researchers have followed the lives of a group of people from Dunedin in New Zealand.
They assessed them as children - before any of them had started using cannabis - and then re-interviewed them repeatedly, up to the age of 38.
Having taken into account other factors such as alcohol or tobacco dependency or other drug use, as well the number of years spent in education, they found that those who persistently used cannabis - smoking it at least four times a week year after year through their teens, 20s and, in some cases, their 30s - suffered a decline in their IQ.
The more that people smoked, the greater the loss in IQ.
The effect was only noticed in those who started smoking cannabis as adolescents.
Dermota P, Wang J, Dey M, Gmel G, Studer J, Mohler-Kuo M. Health literacy and substance use in young Swiss men. International Journal of Public Health. July 11, 2013. Doi 10.1007/s00038-013-0487-9
Background
The current survey is part of the national cohort study C-SURF, which is being conducted by the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine and Vaudois University Hospital. The aim of the C-SURF study is to identify the use of various addictive substances by young men and track it on a long-term basis.
Contacts:
PD Dr. Meichun Mohler-Kuo
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine
University of Zurich
Tel. +41 44 634 46 37
E-Mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)