Marijuana Use and Attitudes Among Young Adults

Recently we were covering the 1920s in one of my U.S. History classes at COS.  One of the signature characteristics of that decade was Prohibition.  The passage of the 18^th Amendment in 1918 banned the manufacture, sale, transportation and export of alcoholic beverages.  The fifteen-year Prohibition period was marked by widespread evasion of the law, and the growth of organized crime syndicates  to provide illegal liquor.   Prohibition ended in 1933, when the 21st Amendment, the repeal of Prohibition, was passed.   

Class discussion turned to the question of whether the situation regarding marijuana today is similar to that of alcohol in the 1920s.  Class members suggested I take a survey of the students in all my classes regarding marijuana use and student attitudes about it.  The results were interesting enough I thought it might be worthwhile to share them with the community at large.  Keep in mind these results cannot be considered rigorously scientific; the sample size was the 179 students in my six History classes, the respondents are all current college students and the great majority are approximately the same age.     

       

The survey was confidential and consisted of six items.  The first two questions were to find out the demographics of the respondents.  Question 1 was gender.  51 percent of the students were male and 49 percent were female.  Question 2 was age, with two categories.  81 percent of respondents were 24 and under, while 19 percent were 25 or older. 

The next two questions explored marijuana use.  Question 3 asked, “Have you ever used marijuana?”  55 percent said yes and 45 percent said no.  Question 4 was, “Have you used marijuana in the past month?”  17 percent reported they had, and 83 percent said they had not.

The last two questions elicited student opinions on marijuana legality.  Question 5 asked “Should marijuana be legal for medical use?”  80 percent said yes, 16 percent said no and 4 percent had no opinion.  Question 6 asked, “Should marijuana be legal for recreational use?”  41 percent said yes, 50 percent said no and 8 percent had no opinion. 

Analysis of the results is informative.  A majority of the young adults surveyed have tried marijuana at least once, but a substantial minority of 45 percent  have not.  Only about one-sixth of all respondents have used marijuana in the past month, indicating that the great majority are not frequent users.

There was very heavy support for medical marijuana.  The ratio was five to one in favor, with only a small percentage undecided on the issue.  On the other hand, among these young adults, the majority opposed legalizing marijuana for recreational use.   The raw numbers were 90 in favor, 74 opposed and 15 undecided.  That computes to a 9-percent margin in favor of keeping it illegal.  

There was a significant difference between men and women in use and attitudes.  59 percent of men had tried marijuana compared to 51 percent of the women.  20 percent of the men had used in the past month compared to 14 percent among women.  Support for medical marijuana was overwhelming in both groups, but higher for the men.  85 percent of the men were in favor compared to 76 percent of the women.  There was an especially large difference of opinion on legalizing marijuana for recreational use.  The men were in narrowly in favor, 51 percent to 46 percent, with 3 percent undecided.  But women were strongly against legalization.  Only 31 percent were in favor compared to 55 percent against.  There was also a much larger undecided group of 14 percent. 

The upshot to me was that, at least among this limited sample, marijuana use is not as widespread as many proponents believe, and that a consensus for legalization does not exist at this time, even among the age group where it might be supposed that support is strongest.