• The study showed that of the 524 teenagers who had used opiates in the last 30 days, almost 80% had had cannabis.
  • Research was conducted by Dr. Vicki Osborne, who focused on this issue.

Adolescents who use opioid pain without prescription often use cannabis as well - a new study says.

Researchers analyzed information from more than 11,000 children and adolescents aged 10 to 18 in 10 cities in the United States. atparticipants were asked whether they had used prescription opiates in the last 30 days and whether they also used cannabis.

Overall, about 29% of adolescents admitted having ever tried cannabis in their lives. But among the 524 participants who said they had been using prescription opiates in the last 30 days, almost 80% were using cannabis.

Study Results

Findings show that cannabis prevalence among young opioid users is high, says Vicki Osborne, an epidemiologist doctoral study at Florida University- Osborne presented a study on October 31 at a meeting of the American Public Health Association in Denver.

For adolescents whothey said they were using opioids without a prescription (which meansthat they used drugs through a friend, family member, or other route, about 88% used cannabis, compared with 61% of those who had prescription opioids they used.

Study straightshe found that juveniles who reported having used alcohol or tobacco alongside opiates were more likely to use cannabis. Among opioid users, those who also reported recent use of alcohol had almost 10 times the probability of using cannabis compared to those who did not use alcohol.

And those who currently smoked tobacco had 24 times more likely to use cannabis than those who were not tobacco users, the study said.

efforts to prevent young people who use opioid painkillers as well as cannabis should focus on those who use alcohol and tobacco, Osborn said.

the effort should bealso focus on men who have probably reported cannabis use more often than women, she said.

Intervention wouldshould also target young people who use opiates without prescription, Osborn said. While such opioid use among young people is not as high as that of adults, the proportion of non-prescription opioid youth is still current, she said.

What will be next?

Scientists want to further investigate data and find out when young people are taking cannabis and when they start taking opiates.

Previous stuThey found that legalization of medical marijuana actually leads to a reduction in opiate use in adultsch. However, Osborne said that new knowledge among young people may differ from adults, because even in countries that have legalized marijuana use is illegal.