Are Girls the New Potheads?

"For the first time in 50 years of keeping track, in 2024 girls used significantly more marijuana than boys in every grade. The much higher percentages of girls vaping marijuana may explain part of the difference. Boys are still smoking more cigarettes than girls, while girls are more attracted to vaping marijuana as well as to vaping nicotine. The vaping devices are clearly marketed to females in rainbow colors and offering flavors like coconut or mango."

"Press releases surrounding the report emphasized historic reductions in alcohol use-but not the marijuana reversal. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the University of Michigan, which conducts the study, were careful not to overinterpret subgroup patterns until confirmed as a trend. Nevertheless, I anticipate that such analyses will now appear in publications like Pediatrics and JAMA Psychiatry. Officia l MTF data show that girls lead boys in marijuana vaping, in lifetime, annual, and past-month prevalence."

More female than male high school students used marijuana in 2024 across grades for the first time in 50 years of data collection. Higher proportions of girls vape marijuana and nicotine, which appears to be a major factor in the gender reversal in marijuana use. Vape products use rainbow colors and sweet flavors like coconut or mango that appeal to girls. Boys continue to smoke more cigarettes and males still show higher rates of most other drugs and heavier use. Official MTF data indicate the gender reversal is statistically meaningful and carry implications for physicians, educators, and public health officials.

Read at Psychology Today