Teens and young adults who use cannabis are significantly more likely to become regular tobacco users later on. The corresponding study was published in Tobacco Control.
Although smoking is a well-known risk factor for starting cannabis use, how cannabis use affects risk of using tobacco has remained relatively unknown. To understand this better, the researchers behind the current study investigated the link between cannabis use and progression into tobacco use among adolescents and young adults.
To do so, they analyzed data from close to 14,000 people in the US aged between 12 and 24 years old who in 2017, claimed to have never or ‘never regularly’ used any form of tobacco. A total of 15.4% of respondents reported cannabis use in the last 12 months. Respondents were asked about use of tobacco in 2021.
Ultimately, the researchers found that 32.7% of teens aged 12-17 years who used cannabis progressed to regular tobacco use four years later- an increase of 15.6% compared to matched controls who did not use cannabis. As for those aged between 18 and 24 years old who used cannabis, 14% went on to report regular tobacco use- a 5.4% increase on matched controls.
From a matching analysis, the researchers attributed 13% of new regular tobacco use in the US to cannabis use. They further estimated that absence of cannabis use could have prevented around 510,000 US youth and young adults from progressing into regular tobacco use by 2021.
“The finding that prior cannabis use is a major risk factor for initiation of current regular tobacco use among youth, independent of whether or not they have tried tobacco, suggests that cannabis prevention should be included as a key goal in tobacco control programmes,” wrote the researchers in their study.
“This study provides evidence that failure to address cannabis use among young people has the potential to undermine the progress tobacco control efforts have made in reducing tobacco initiation and progression to regular use,” they added.
Sources: EurekAlert, Tobacco Control
