Marijuana use on college campuses is a commonly discussed issue as prevalence continues to rise. Researchers set out to examine different marijuana use rates and consequences, and to compare users and non-users at 11 universities. Participants at these universities included 8141 college students that completed a survey measuring marijuana use, consequences, descriptive and injunctive norms, availability, internalized norms, beliefs about marijuana users, marijuana identification, protective behavioral strategies, motives, and policies and impacts of use. Across the 11 universities, an average of 53.3% of students reported lifetime use, 26.2% reported past month use, and 5.8% reported near daily use. These rates are similar to nationally representative samples. Users reported experiencing an average of 8 negative consequences from marijuana use in the past month. About one in ten users did not report any consequences, and one in ten reported experiencing 19 or more consequences. The most commonly reported consequences were driving a car while high, saying or doing something embarrassing, using on nights when planned not to use, and feeling sluggish/tired/dazed the morning after use. The least commonly reported consequences were injuring someone, getting into physical fights, having unprotected sex, and doing something disruptive. Students that used marijuana reported they perceived typical college students consumed marijuana more frequently compared to themselves. On a scale of 1-5, students reported marijuana availability was 3.55, between fairly difficult and fairly easy to obtain, but thought that others were able to obtain it more easily than themselves. Compared to non-users, lifetime users perceived others to be more approving of marijuana, had more positive beliefs about marijuana users, and were more likely to identify with being a marijuana user. Users also had more support for legalization, recreational use, and decriminalization of marijuana.
Take away: The number of consequences students experience highlights the importance of distinguishing between problematic and non-problematic marijuana use in order to develop safe use guidelines, similar to those used for safe alcohol consumption. The normative misperceptions and self-other discrepancies found in this study highlight the need for additional research that identifies the best factors and behaviors to target for normative feedback interventions.