Reid A, Lynskey M, Copeland J
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052.
Aust N Z J Public Health. 2000 Dec;24(6):596-602. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-842x.2000.tb00523.x.
To describe the prevalence, context and recent trends in cannabis use among Australian adolescents.
Data was collected from 1,581 adolescents aged 14-19 years as part of the 1998 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, and comparisons were made with data from 350 adolescents who participated in the 1995 survey.
Among 14-19 year olds, 47.8% have had the opportunity to use cannabis in the past year and 45.2% have used cannabis at least once in their lifetime. Substantial increases have occurred since 1995 in the prevalence of use among young females. While most cannabis use was fairly infrequent, a minority of 14-19 year olds (9.4%) used cannabis at least weekly. Cannabis use was associated with regular tobacco and alcohol use, and other illicit drug use. Regular cannabis users had lower levels of health on the general health and vitality dimensions of the SF-36.
These results show that cannabis availability and use is common among Australian adolescents, and confirm that there has been an increase in use between 1995 and 1998, although only among young females. Future research is required to understand why this recent increase has occurred, and trends in cannabis uptake and use patterns among this group should be carefully monitored. Interventions may need to be developed and made available to the group of young people who are using cannabis heavily.
描述澳大利亚青少年使用大麻的流行情况、背景及近期趋势。
作为1998年全国毒品战略家庭调查的一部分，收集了1581名14至19岁青少年的数据，并与350名参与1995年调查的青少年的数据进行了比较。
在14至19岁的青少年中，47.8%在过去一年中有机会使用大麻，45.2%一生中至少使用过一次大麻。自1995年以来，年轻女性的大麻使用率大幅上升。虽然大多数大麻使用频率较低，但少数14至19岁的青少年（9.4%）至少每周使用一次大麻。大麻使用与经常吸烟、饮酒及其他非法药物使用有关。经常使用大麻的人在SF-36健康调查的总体健康和活力维度上的健康水平较低。
这些结果表明，大麻的可得性和使用在澳大利亚青少年中很普遍，并证实了1995年至1998年间大麻使用率有所上升，不过仅在年轻女性中。需要开展进一步研究以了解近期为何出现这种增长，并且应密切监测该群体中大麻使用和使用模式的趋势。可能需要针对大量使用大麻的年轻人群体制定并提供干预措施。
