Chiu Vivian, Chan Gary, Hall Wayne, Hides Leanne, Lim Carmen, Leung Janni
School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Front Psychiatry. 2021 Feb 25;12:551661. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.551661. eCollection 2021.
Increasingly more Australians are in favor of legalizing medical and recreational cannabis use. This paper explored the personal characteristics of those who supported each of these policies in Australia. Cross-sectional national survey. This study included 21,729 participants aged 18 years and above who responded to the 2016 National Drug Strategy Household Survey. Participants were provided the assurance of confidentiality for their participations. Logistic regression models were used to examine the relationships between personal characteristics and support for the legalization of medical and recreational cannabis. Overall, 77 and 40% of participants supported the legalization of medical and recreational cannabis respectively. People of older age were more likely to support medical cannabis legalization while those who supported legalization of recreational cannabis use were more likely to be younger. Medical cannabis supporters were more likely to report chronic pain (OR = 1.44, 95% CI: 1.04, 2.00) while recreational cannabis supporters were more likely to suffer high level of psychological distress (OR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.14, 1.43). Experience with cannabis use was strongly associated with supportive attitudes, with recent cannabis users almost 14 times (OR = 14.13, 95% CI: 5.37, 37.20) and 34 times (OR = 33.74, 95% CI: 24.22, 47.01) more likely to support the legalization of medical and recreational cannabis use, respectively. The majority of Australians approve the legalization of cannabis for medicinal purposes but most remain cautious about legalizing recreational cannabis use. The sociodemographic and clinical profile of supporters of medical and recreational legalization suggests a potential interaction of self-interests and beliefs about the harms of cannabis use.
越来越多的澳大利亚人赞成将医用和消遣用大麻合法化。本文探讨了澳大利亚支持这两项政策的人群的个人特征。全国性横断面调查。本研究纳入了21729名18岁及以上的参与者，他们对2016年全国毒品战略家庭调查做出了回应。参与者得到保证，其参与将予以保密。采用逻辑回归模型来研究个人特征与支持医用和消遣用大麻合法化之间的关系。总体而言，分别有77%和40%的参与者支持医用和消遣用大麻合法化。年龄较大的人更有可能支持医用大麻合法化，而支持消遣用大麻合法化的人更有可能是年轻人。支持医用大麻的人更有可能报告患有慢性疼痛（比值比=1.44，95%置信区间：1.04，2.00），而支持消遣用大麻的人更有可能遭受高度心理困扰（比值比=1.28，95%置信区间：1.14，1.43）。大麻使用经历与支持态度密切相关，近期大麻使用者支持医用和消遣用大麻合法化的可能性分别几乎高出14倍（比值比=14.13，95%置信区间：5.37，37.20）和34倍（比值比=33.74，95%置信区间：24.22，47.01）。大多数澳大利亚人赞成将大麻用于医疗目的合法化，但大多数人对消遣用大麻合法化仍持谨慎态度。医用和消遣用大麻合法化支持者的社会人口统计学和临床特征表明，自身利益与对大麻使用危害的信念之间可能存在相互作用。
