Rajeev Ramchand and Howard Chilcoat, ScD. Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 North Broadway, 8th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21205, 410-955-0422, rramchan@jhsph.edu

AIMS: We assess how adolescent female marijuana users who act as consumers differ from their counterparts who receive the drug for free, and hypothesize that female marijuana consumers are exposed to unique health risks during illegal drug transactions. METHODS: We used the public use data files of the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), a nationally representative sample of the US population. Adolescent respondents were asked questions about marijuana use and methods of marijuana procurement. RESULTS: Of females aged 12-21, 19% reported using marijuana in the past 12 months; of these, 68% reported that the last time they used the drug they received it for free while 26% report acquiring the drug through purchase. A dose-response relationship exists between frequency of marijuana use and the odds of buying the drug. Compared to females who received marijuana for free, those women who bought marijuana were more likely to distribute marijuana to others by both selling the drug and giving the drug away for free and were also more likely to receive the drug from a stranger and in a public or commercial space. CONCLUSIONS: For females, frequency of marijuana use is associated with an increased odds of procuring the drug through purchase. These women may be exposed to health compromising behaviors by entering into unregulated and illegal drug transactions with strangers in potentially compromising locations. Further studies into how females procure drugs are needed to assess the health risks that they may face surrounding their drug use.

Learning Objectives:

• Assess characteristics of female marijuana users who procure the drug through purchase and identify potential health compromising behaviors that females who procure drugs through purchase may face.

Keywords: Marijuana, Women

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.