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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Monisha Jayakumar, MPH¹, Thomas Nicholson, PhD², David Duncan, DrPH³, and John White, PhD². (1) PhD Program in Maternal and Child Health, ohns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, 270-303-3620, monishaeunice@yahoo.com, (2) Dept. of Public Health, Western Kentucky University, 1906 College Heights Blvd., Bowling Green, KY 42101, (3) Duncan and Associates, 1347 Kentucky Street, Bowling Green, KY 42101

The dominant drug policy regarding marijuana virtually everywhere in the world is prohibition. Prohibition models have, however, differed in practice along a range from strict prohibition to a more relaxed prohibition. This study examines the effects of Canada's, United Kingdom's, and United States' differing prohibition policies on marijuana use. During the period covered by this study, the United States followed a strict prohibitionist policy toward marijuana use. Canada and the UK, however, began experimenting with less restrictive versions of prohibition. Data are from the DRUGNET study, a cross sectional survey of over 2,000 respondents during the later part of the 1990s. A subsample of marijuana users from the three countries were compared (Canada = 120; UK = 69; US = 83). No significant differences between respondents were observed on demographic characteristics. Further, there was no difference observed between the three samples on reported age of initiating marijuana use (16-17 years). Differences were observed in reported levels of intoxication (US reporting higher levels) and use of marijuana with other drugs (UK reporting more frequent use). In addition, the US respondents reported more encounters with law enforcement than the other two samples. The results, in general, suggest that adherence to strict prohibitionist principles has little to do with marijuana use within the general population.

Learning Objectives:

• - Recognize the difference between strict prohibition models and relaxed prohibition models
• - Articulate differnences between US, Canadian, and UK drug policies relating to marijuana
• - Discuss the possible impacts of differing levels of prohibition on prevalence and nature of marijuana use
• - List negative outcomes of marjijuana prohibition

Keywords: Marijuana, Drug Use Variation

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered