Simultaneous alcohol and marijuana use among college students is on the rise, that’s according to a Tulane University study. Assistant professor of social work Audrey Hai said they examined data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health of 56,000 full-time college students ages 18 to 25 from 2006 to 2019.
“What was surprising was that when we look at it by race and ethnicity we find this upward trend is only among Black and African-American students and not other students,” said Hai.
The use of both alcohol and marijuana among Black college students was 5.50% from 2006 to 2010. It increased by 69.09% to 9.30% from 2015 to 2019.
Hai said the sharp increase between 2018 to 2019 for Black students is likely attributed to the beginning of widespread attention to racism and police brutality. And considering the data was gathered before the pandemic and George Floyd’s death…
“If we look at the data from 2019 to now, this phenomenon may be heightened. That’s just my suspicion and we are conducting follow-up studies on this,” said Hai.
As simultaneous use is on the uptick, especially among Black students, Hai said colleges and universities should focus on awareness and treatment for alcohol and marijuana use.
“Because it puts college students more at risk for a wide range of health, psychological and social consequences like more than marijuana and alcohol alone,” said Hai.
The overall increase for simultaneous use among all races and ethnicities of college students from the same time period increased from 8.13% to 8.44%.
To read the entire study click here.
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