The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) recently released a report that found more juveniles than adults arrested and booked in county jails have vaped, or “dabbed” marijuana.
The report comes as a part of SANDAG’s Substance Abuse Monitoring Project, which conducts annual surveys on a sample of adults and juveniles arrested and booked into San Diego county detention facilities. There were 195 adults and 37 juveniles who completed the survey in 2021, according to the report.
The goal of the survey is to identify drug use trends among juvenile and adult offender populations to develop strategies for the prevention of drug use.
The report found nearly 90% of juveniles have used vaping devices to consume marijuana, which was significantly more than 68% of adults. While the rate of juveniles reporting to vape cannabis remained the same, the number dropped among adults from 71% in 2020.
These percentages were similar to those reported in the previous year. In 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued warnings related to vaping any products that contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
About 70% of juveniles said they have “dabbed”, which refers to inhaling vaporized cannabis concentrates, typically cannabis oil or resin, from a dab pen or through other smoking devices. Among adults, nearly 64% said they have ever dabbed THC.
The number of juveniles reporting to have dabbed decreased from 80% in 2020, while it remained unchanged for adults.
The report also highlights that nearly three-fourths of adults and 38% of juveniles in 2021 said they think the potency of marijuana has increased since they began using it. Around one in eight respondents (12%) said they use marijuana with another drug, most often meth.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), researchers do not yet know the full extent of the consequences when the body and brain are exposed to high concentrations of THC. However, about 41% of respondents reported they thought marijuana was physically addictive, and about 65% reported it was psychologically addictive.
Both responses have seen an increase from 30% and 57%, respectively, since 2019. Nearly nine in ten respondents reported their marijuana use was beneficial to them, with 64% citing anxiety relief, followed by the mood at 50%, insomnia among 32% of respondents and 27% reported relief of physical pain.
Marijuana use among adults 21 years of age and older has been legal since the passage of Proposition 64 in 2016. About 34 percent of adults and 8 percent of juveniles said they had grown or helped grow marijuana in the past year, according to the survey.
But just like drinking drunk driving, driving under the influence of a drug is a crime—even if your impairment is due to prescribed medications, illicit drugs, over-the-counter medications, or marijuana – medical or recreational.
The survey found that more than 58% of adult respondents thought marijuana could impact someone’s ability to drive and 42% thought it did not. Of the adults who thought marijuana could impact one’s driving under the influence, 53% reported ever reporting doing so. Of those who thought it did not impact their driving, 64% had driven under the influence. 58% of adults think marijuana impact one’s driving ability 53% of these individuals have driven under the influence.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), driving while the impaired offense could cost up to $10,000 for first-time offenders. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) estimates the cost of an offense at approximately $13,500, which includes insurance hikes, attorney and legal fees, restricted licensing, days off work to go to court, a criminal record, and more.
