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Comparative Study
. 2019 Dec 23;19(1):416.
doi: 10.1186/s12888-019-2403-1.

Assessing the impacts of daily Cannabis versus alcohol and methamphetamines on young Australians in youth AOD treatment

Amy C Reichelt  1   2 , James C Collett  2 , Ora Landmann  3 , Karen T Hallam  4   5
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Assessing the impacts of daily Cannabis versus alcohol and methamphetamines on young Australians in youth AOD treatment

Amy C Reichelt et al. BMC Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: Cannabis is the most widely used illicit substance by Australian young people, including those engaged with youth alcohol and other drug (AOD) systems. While recreational cannabis use in young people may be a developmental activity for some, for others, this usage becomes regular and be associated with poorer long term outcomes. This study reports on the rates of cannabis use and co-existing psychosocial complexity factors in the Youth Needs Census (2013 and 2016) where workers report on all clients in the youth AOD system, a cohort considered highly vulnerable.

Methods: Data was examined for two rounds of data collection for the Youth Needs Census, including 823 youth AOD service engaged young people in 2016 and 1000 AOD service engaged young people in 2013, to identify usage rates, psychosocial outcomes, and changes over time.

Results: Daily use of cannabis alone significantly exceeded daily usage rates for methamphetamines, alcohol, and cannabis used alongside other substances. Daily cannabis use was significantly associated with mental health problems, employment problems, education problems, family problems, and housing problems. Daily cannabis use was associated with most psychosocial complexity factors to the same extent as daily methamphetamine use and daily alcohol use, with daily cannabis users only showing lower incidence of the drug-related harm measure. Notably, daily cannabis use also increased from 2013 (47.5%) to 2016 (54.2%).

Conclusions: It is imperative that the number of individuals using cannabis is considered alongside the severity of harm when assessing the social impact of this substance. Within cannabis users engaged with the youth AOD system, who often have high levels of psychosocial complexity, cannabis is used daily by a large proportion of these youths and may play a role in negatively impacting their lives.

Keywords: AOD services; Alcohol; Cannabis; Methamphetamines; Psychosocial; Substance abuse; Youth.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing financial or non-financial interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Case percentages for daily use, monthly use (past 4 weeks), dependence, and being the substance of primary concern across cannabis, methamphetamines, and alcohol
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Separated case numbers for no daily substance use and daily use of cannabis, cannabis plus methamphetamines and/or alcohol, methamphetamines only, or alcohol only
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
a Percentage of young people affected by psychosocial complexity factors across cases of no daily substance use and daily use of cannabis, cannabis plus methamphetamines and/or alcohol, methamphetamines only, or alcohol only. b Number of young people affected by psychosocial complexity factors across cases of no daily substance use and daily use of cannabis, cannabis plus methamphetamines and/or alcohol, methamphetamines only, or alcohol only
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Comparison of cases of daily cannabis use experiencing psychosocial complexity factors across 2016 and 2013 cohorts
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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