The prevalence of cannabis use in an Australian tertiary student population

Abstract

This study investigated the prevalence of cannabis use among a sample of 448 South Australian tertiary students. Participants completed a self-report questionnaire assessing their history of cannabis use to determine frequency and duration of use. It was found that while 36.4% of the respondents had never used cannabis, 11.4% of the sample reported using cannabis on a weekly basis, while 7.1% were classified as regular long-term cannabis users, which was more common among males. Compared to samples of the general Australian population and the general adolescent population, tertiary students exhibited a higher prevalence of cannabis use. Given the potential problems of regular long-term cannabis use, it is suggested that it is important to further investigate the effects of cannabis use in this population and ways of reducing the prevalence of regular long-term cannabis use.