When Cannabis Use is a Problem

**Brian Lehrer** (0:10)
It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. Now we're going to turn to a new study about cannabis use from the Journal of the American Medical Association, which found that weed products may be more addictive, keyword addictive than previously thought. You probably know that legalization is on the rise in the US. Most states, including New York and New Jersey, have legalized recreational use, and almost all states have allowances for medical marijuana. And with the growth of the legal industry, weed has been billed as a healthier and less addictive alternative to alcohol. The numbers show that Americans have been buying into that pitch. A lot of people think of popping the cannabis gummy or using a weed vape as healthier and less addictive than having a drink. The study we're talking about today is not about going back to illegal weed, but it showed that 26 percent of adult men reported using the drug in the past year, up from 22 percent five years ago. For women, it's gone up to 22 percent of women using it in the last year from 18 But about a third of the people who use cannabis showed symptoms of what researchers are calling cannabis use disorder, suggesting that it may be, they say it may be, even more addictive than alcohol as a percentage of users.
One reason perhaps that's speculated on is that cannabis products are a lot stronger than they used to be, so we'll dig into that aspect among other things.
Joining us now is Roni Caryn Rabin, a health reporter at The New York Times who just wrote a piece with a headline, More Americans Turn to Cannabis, Problem Use is Increasing. Roni, thanks for joining us for this. Welcome back to WNYC.

**Roni Caryn Rabin** (2:02)
Thank you for having me.

**Brian Lehrer** (2:05)
So give us the prevailing wisdom about the addictive properties of cannabis until now.
Why have researchers said for so long that it's not addictive? I guess the word addictive is different from, you can become dependent.

**Roni Caryn Rabin** (2:23)
Well, I think that there's always been some dispute about this. We're talking about something called substance use disorder. That's the current term. I think that we used to think it wasn't very addictive. It wouldn't lead to this. But the products today are very different than they used to be. They're much stronger.
They're obviously easier to get ahold of. They're everywhere. It's ubiquitous.
But the prevailing wisdom is that it's the dose that drives the habituation, and that the concentrations of the potency of products has just grown immensely. There's a lot of controversy about that, but I'd like to just look at the, you know, the National Institute of Drug Abuse looks at products that are tested by law enforcement seizures, and they've seen the potency of Delta 9 go up from about 4% to about 16% between 1995 and 2022 So that's a fourfold increase.

**Brian Lehrer** (3:34)
On cannabis use disorder, if someone uses cannabis on a daily basis, let's say, does that inherently qualify as a disorder or problem use, or does that definition more have to do with the negative effects on someone's daily life if it's having negative effects?

**Roni Caryn Rabin** (3:53)
No, I don't think daily use alone doesn't qualify. There's actually a very clear list of 11 symptoms that the DSM put out by the American Psychiatric Association that's the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. There are 11 symptoms. Daily use is not on them, but the main theme is it's causing problems in your work, in your social life, in your interpersonal relations, or causing danger, or some kind of problems you want to cut down, you want to quit, and you can't. That's kind of the general idea, and within that, there are very specific symptoms.
Giving up other activities or hobbies or time with friends to use cannabis is one of them. Another is using cannabis in situations with the risk of injury, like driving. So if you have, there are 11, they're really easy to search on Google. I know people ask us a lot about this after the story ran. If someone has two or three, they're considered to have a mild cannabis use disorder, and moderate use disorder with four or five, and six or more is considered severe.

**Brian Lehrer** (4:58)
Listeners, we can take your calls on this. You can talk about your own experience. Do you think that you suffer or have suffered from cannabis use disorder? Did you start using more or higher amounts and then realize you needed to change something?
Have you ever felt addicted using that word? To Cannabis, 212-433-WNYC-433-9692, or maybe you know someone who has, 212-433-9692, or just questions for our guest who is reporting on the addictive properties of cannabis and the increasing prevalence of cannabis use disorder. Call or text 212-433-WNYC-433.