College towns lead in marijuana use, govt. study discovers
 

College towns lead in marijuana use

U.S. government finds highest, lowest areas of consumption

Thursday, June 16, 2005

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Marijuana use

The regions with the 10 highest and lowest rates of marijuana use by residents 12 and over, according to a report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration:

Highest


Boston, 12.16 percent
Boulder, Colorado, 10.3
Southeast Massachusetts, 9.53
Portland, Ore., region, 9.48
Champlain Valley, Vermont, 9.37
San Francisco region, 9.24
Hawaii Island, 9.22
Central Massachusetts, 9
North Central California, 8.93
Washington, Rhode Island, 8.81

Lowest

Northwest Iowa, 2.28
Northeast Iowa, 2.53
North central Texas, 2.59
Central Iowa, 2.63
Lake region and south central North Dakota, 2.65
Northern Nebraska, 2.65
Southeast Oklahoma, 2.77
East-central South Dakota, 2.78
Badlands and west central North Dakota, 2.81
Central Nebraska, 2.88
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Both college towns, Boston and Boulder, Colorado, share another distinction: They lead the nation in marijuana use. Northwestern Iowa and southern Texas have the lowest use.

For the first time, the government looked at the use of drugs, cigarettes, alcohol and various other substances, legal as well as illegal, by region rather than by state for a report Thursday.

Regions could be as specific as Riverside, California, or as broad as all of the state of New York (minus New York City). Federal officials say the information will help states decide where they should spend money for treatment and prevention programs.

For marijuana, 5.1 percent of people around the country reported using marijuana in the previous 30 days. In Boston, the home of Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern and several other colleges, 12.2 percent reported using marijuana in the previous 30 days.

John Auerbach, executive director of the public health commission for the city of Boston, said the survey might not reflect current marijuana use in Boston because the data came from 1999-2001 national surveys.

"All that said, we're not surprised that substance abuse is a serious issue in the Boston area," Auerbach said. "The mayor and the health department have made the issue of substance abuse a top public health priority."

Auerbach also acknowledged that the data may reflect the city's significant 20-something population.

"College students in general have a more relaxed attitude about marijuana than other age groups," he said. "But in general, I don't think Boston has a markedly differently perspective on marijuana than other parts of the country."

The federal report doesn't explain why certain regions fare worse than others when it comes to smoking pot or cigarettes, or for heavy alcohol use, only that they do.

In Boulder County, the home of the University of Colorado, 10.3 percent reported using marijuana during the same time period. But a public health official who has studied marijuana usage there said he too had doubts about the report.

Dr. Chuck Stout, the county's public health director, said he has studied marijuana usage among teens. The percentage of high school students in Boulder County who acknowledged smoking marijuana differed little from state and national averages. He said he doubted that students at the university were heavier marijuana users than students at dozens of other universities around the country.

"Where you have concentrations of younger, active people, you'll have more experimentation with a variety of risk behaviors, but that's true for so many other parts of the country as well," Stout said. "I think this [report] is a huge stretch."

Federal officials said they highlighted the marijuana report because it's the most commonly used illicit drug. But the survey also measures 11 other categories.

For example, the survey measures binge drinking -- defined as five or more drinks in one setting.

Nationally, 20 percent of people age 12 and older reported one or more episodes of binge drinking during the previous month.

Boston scored high in that category, too, with nearly 30 percent of respondents acknowledging binge drinking.

But the Northeast and Southeast regions of North Dakota reported binge drinking among 32 percent of residents of that age group. Overall, North Dakota had the highest rate of binge drinking when compared with other states -- 29.2 percent.

"The further north you are, typically, the more alcohol is consumed," said Douglas Wright, a mathematical statistician with the federal government who helped put the report together.
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Light 'em up if you got 'em! ;) ;) :D

CHONG

Up in smoke, that's where my money goes... in my lungs, and sometimes up my nose!
When troubled times begin to bother me... I take a toke, and al my cares go up in smoke!

CHEECH (in Spanglish)

Up in smoke, donde todo es libre... there are no signs que dicen 'No fume'!
So I roll un 'bomber' y me doy un buen toque... y despues I choke, y todos mis cares go up in smoke!

C'mon let's go get high!

CHORUS

Up in smoke, that's where I wanna be... 'cause when I'm high the world below don't bother me!
When life begins to be a long and dangerous road... I take a toke, and all my cares go up in smoke!

Calling Boston a college town is kind of ridiculous.

LOL @ Boulder, though. I bet the people in all the "lowest" regions, i.e., the boonies, are on meth.

GMTA valkyrie! My first thought was "How is Boston a college town?" Ann Arbor is a college town because without the U of Mich, there would be nothing there. Boston has a lot going for it with or without colleges!

That said, I'm totally surprised that Ann Arbor isn't on the top 10 list. They have Hash Bash every year and until the feds cracked down, their fine for possession was $5.00.

Dee

Hmmm... places with colleges having a high proportion of tokers... who would have thunk it :p

However I'd like to see a stat listing the total population, percentage that are students, and the percentage that smoke-up... otherswise these stats don't really mean all that much.

Finally Boston had 12.16% and scored numero uno? 12.16% doesn't really seem that 'high' really :D

Supposedly, one out of every four Boston residents is a full-time student.

It's not a college town in the same way that Boulder or Ann Arbor are, but it is more so than the other big cities in the Northeast.

Geez. Boulder is only number two. I'm sure they'll be trying harder.

As for the findings of the survey, gee what a surprise.

Hmm...I bet they are getting their drugs from the "lowest" areas, heh.

I'm still surprised not to see Ohio-WV there, seriously.

*thinks back to all the drug raids on campus*

Thinking back to the drug raids on the Ohio University campus in the late sixties is not a plesant thing.

In those days, they were midnight, "no knock" affairs, and if convicted for something as minor as possession, people were being sentenced to twenty years in the old Ohio Pennitentiary -- which was not a nice place.

Yes, I am talking about possession of marijuana -- not harder drugs.

I can't believe they actually spent money to discover these findings. I propose a government study to find out if government studies are a waste of money.

It would be inconclusive and foster several more studies.

What in the world was the methodology for this? Since it is illegal and the smartest of users do not get caught, purchases are not scanned to be tracked or anything, how do you montior the use of something people do not want you to know they use???

Re: College towns lead in marijuana use, govt. study discovers
 

That's because they're all too busy with their meth labs to bother with such a lightweight drug like marijuana.