High School Athletes and Marijuana Use

Abstract

Identifying groups of young people that might be especially susceptible to marijuana use would aid in the design and implementation of drug policy programs. This article examines whether those who participated in high school athletics have a different pattern of marijuana use than comparable non-athletes. The results indicate that male athletes have a higher incidence of marijuana use than non-athletes. The same is not true for female athletes, who actually engage in less marijuana use than their non-athlete counterparts. However, female athletes are more likely than non-athletes to wait until their post-high school years to try the drug for the first time.