Though researchers have observed a noticeable decline of marijuana use in wealthy countries, the amount of drug usage in developing countries has risen over the last few decades.
Generally, the use of cannabis, commonly referred to as marijuana is associated with young adults of wealthy countries. However, over the last few decades, researchers have noticed a remarkable change in this usage trend. While the use of this drug has decreased dramatically in developed countries, it remains stable or is seen increasing in developing countries, according to a press release.
For the study, researchers looked at marijuana use among 15-year-old adolescents in thirty European and North American countries in 2002, 2006, and 2010. The overall observation revealed a significant decline in the usage of the drug. Wealthy countries in Western and Southern Europe and North America (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, USA) showed a decrease in frequent cannabis consumption among 15-year-old boys and girls.
Contrarily, emerging market countries that have recently experienced a rapid increase in their GDP showed stable or increasing marijuana use. In FYR Macedonia, Latvia, Lithuania, cannabis use increased among boys and in Russia, it increased among girls. In the remaining nine of the twelve former communist countries in Eastern, Central, and Southern Europe, cannabis use among 15-year-olds appears to have stabilized over time. Adolescents from less affluent countries seem to have adopted consumption patterns consistent with their peers in richer countries.
A reason for the recent decrease in cannabis use in richer countries and among higher socioeconomic status groups may be because of the increased focus on the harmful effects of substance use and the subsequent implementation of public health prevention measures aimed at reducing substance use.
Thus, while wealth in earlier decades fostered adolescent substance use due to increased opportunities, nowadays, national health policies in wealthy countries may have contributed to the observed decrease of adolescent cannabis use.
