Weatherburn Donald, Darke Shane, Zahra Emma, Farrell Michael
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Drug Alcohol Rev. 2022 Feb;41(2):386-395. doi: 10.1111/dar.13360. Epub 2021 Jul 25.
This study sought to determine: (i) whether decriminalisation of cannabis use would increase the proportion who would try the drug; and (ii) the proportion who would use more cannabis; and (iii) explore their characteristics.
Australian National Drug Strategy Household surveys were used to address (i)-(iii). Significant independent predictors of (i) and (ii) were identified using logistic regression.
An estimated 4.2% of the population aged 14 and over (n = 882 708) who have never tried cannabis before would try it, if use of the drug were made legal, while 2.6% of the population aged 14 and over (537 000) would use more cannabis if its use were made legal. Respondents were more likely to say they would try cannabis if they were male, younger or suffered from a mild, moderate and/or severe level of psychological stress. Respondents were more likely to say they would use more cannabis if they were male, younger, psychologically stressed and not currently frequent users of the drug.
Decriminalisation of cannabis use is likely to result in an increase in consumption of the drug among young people with mental health problems. If cannabis use is decriminalised, Australian State and Territory Governments should make provision for a possible increase in demand for drug treatment and for public education on the risks associated with frequent/prolonged cannabis use.
本研究旨在确定：（i）大麻使用合法化是否会使尝试该药物的人群比例增加；（ii）使用更多大麻的人群比例；以及（iii）探究他们的特征。
澳大利亚国家毒品战略家庭调查被用于解决（i）至（iii）的问题。使用逻辑回归确定（i）和（ii）的显著独立预测因素。
估计14岁及以上从未尝试过大麻的人群（n = 882708）中，若大麻使用合法化，4.2%的人会尝试使用；而14岁及以上人群（537000）中，若大麻使用合法化，2.6%的人会使用更多大麻。如果受访者为男性、年轻或患有轻度、中度和/或重度心理压力，他们更有可能表示会尝试大麻。如果受访者为男性、年轻、有心理压力且目前不是该药物的频繁使用者，他们更有可能表示会使用更多大麻。
大麻使用合法化可能会导致有心理健康问题的年轻人中该药物的消费量增加。如果大麻使用合法化，澳大利亚州和领地政府应为药物治疗需求可能的增加以及关于频繁/长期使用大麻相关风险的公众教育做好准备。
