Social contact 'increases risk of cannabis abuse'

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by Change | 3 Feb 2009

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The amount of unsupervised social contact young people have increases the risk of them using cannabis, new research shows.

Social contact affects the chances of young people engaging in substance abuse and increases their risk of developing cannabis addiction, a study reveals.

Research published in scientific journal the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine shows the more nights out a week teenagers spend with their friends, the higher the risk of them engaging in marijuana use.

In total, 93,297 students across 31 countries in North America and Europe took part in the survey.

The report's authors say it identifies a need for additional research to be targeted at discovering the nature of nights out enjoyed by young people.

In an accompanying editorial, John Schulenberg and Patrick O'Malley claim that decreasing the amount of social time young people have access to is not an "ideal" prevention method for reducing the need for cannabis rehab clinics.

They state: "This strategy may have unintended consequences for many adolescents. An important part of adolescence is exploring and forming friendships.

"A more complicated … approach to intervention would help young people find activities together that do not promote marijuana use."

Last month, cannabis was reclassified as a class B drug, which could affect the number of people receiving referrals to rehab clinics.

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