TOPLINE:

Adolescents who used cannabis as per a medical recommendation reported more frequent use, more signs of serious cannabis use disorder, and more use of other substances than those who used the drug without a medical recommendation.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers analyzed cross-sectional data from a 2021-2023 US survey to estimate how often clinicians recommended cannabis to adolescents and whether such use of cannabis was linked to the use of other substances.
• They included 3906 adolescents aged 12-17 years who reported using cannabis in the past 12 months.
• Medically recommended use of cannabis was defined as the use of any marijuana or cannabis product in the past year recommended by a clinician.
• Researchers assessed the frequency of cannabis use, severity of cannabis use disorder, and use of other substances such as alcohol in the past year.

TAKEAWAY:

• Among adolescents who reported using cannabis in the past year, 5.2% mentioned that their use was medically recommended; of these, 42.8% were girls.
• Adolescents who reported medically recommended use of cannabis were 66% more likely to be boys (P = .016), 88% more likely to be Black (P = .021), and 87% more likely to be covered by Medicaid or Medicare (P = .045) than peers who reported nonmedical use.
• In an adjusted analysis, compared with participants reporting nonmedical use, those reporting medically recommended cannabis use reported an average of 27.8 more days of cannabis use in the past year (P = .036) and were 57% more likely to meet criteria for moderate or severe cannabis use disorder (P = .023).
• Participants using cannabis on a medical recommendation were more likely to report the past-year use of opioids, stimulants, and cocaine (P < .05 for all).

IN PRACTICE:

“These findings suggest that medical cannabis use in adolescents may co-occur with moderate-to-severe CUD [cannabis use disorder] and other substance use. Before recommending medical cannabis use to adolescents, practitioners should be aware of and monitor these important risks,” the researchers of the study wrote.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Tanner J. Bommersbach, MD, MPH, of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, Wisconsin. It was published online on March 26 as a research brief in American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

LIMITATIONS:

The survey lacked details on why cannabis was recommended, state legality, how much use was medical, and whether other drug use was prescribed.

DISCLOSURES:

The study did not report any funding source. Various authors reported receiving research support, serving on review committees and advisory boards, and receiving honoraria from federal health institutes and national research and mental health organizations.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.