{"id":111641,"date":"2015-06-18T18:35:12","date_gmt":"2015-06-19T00:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/local-pot-use-higher-than-state-average\/"},"modified":"2015-06-18T18:35:12","modified_gmt":"2015-06-19T00:35:12","slug":"local-pot-use-higher-than-state-average","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/local-pot-use-higher-than-state-average\/","title":{"rendered":"Local pot use higher than state average"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Survey
Survey results from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment indicate that 14.2 percent of residents in Region 9 \u2013 Dolores, San Juan, Montezuma and La Plata counties \u2013 have used marijuana within 30 days, compared with a statewide average of 13.6 percent.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Though La Plata County trails behind the state in many important measures of collective well-being such as median income, we\u2019re blazing ahead of the rest of Colorado in other areas.<\/p>\n

A new report from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment shows that in Region 9 \u2013 which includes Dolores, San Juan, Montezuma and La Plata counties \u2013 14.2 percent of adults (18 and older) surveyed in 2014 reported using marijuana in the previous 30 days, slightly more than the statewide average of 13.6 percent.<\/p>\n

La Plata is by far the most populous county in Region 9.<\/p>\n

Still, La Plata County hasn\u2019t quite reached the highs of Boulder, where 18.9 percent of adults surveyed in 2014 reported \u201ccurrent use\u201d of marijuana.<\/p>\n

Merely 1.4 percent of residents surveyed in Region 5 \u2013 which consists of Sedgewick, Phillips, Logan, Morgan, Washington and Yuma counties \u2013 reported using marijuana in the past 30 days, the lowest rate in the state.<\/p>\n

The data \u2013 which was culled after pot-related questions were added to the 2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey for the first time \u2013 offers a new statistical snapshot of Coloradans\u2019 cannabis consumption since the state legalized retail marijuana.<\/p>\n

In a news release, health department Executive Director Dr. Larry Wolk heralded the survey as a public-health breakthrough.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the beginning of data collection about marijuana use by Coloradans,\u201d said Wolk, who also is the department\u2019s chief medical officer. \u201cTracking this data over time will help us identify trends that will be useful in planning public-health awareness campaigns about marijuana use.\u201d<\/p>\n

Statewide, the survey shows that younger adults (ages 18 to 24) are \u201cmore than 10 times more likely\u201d to use marijuana than older adults (ages 65 and older).<\/p>\n

Of the Colorado residents who reported using marijuana at least once in the previous 30 days, one-third reported using marijuana daily, and almost one-fifth \u2013 18.8 percent \u2013 reported driving after using.<\/p>\n

While youths were more disposed to marijuana, so were gay, lesbian and bisexual adults.<\/p>\n

The survey shows that in Colorado, the demographics of marijuana use are further nuanced by race: \u201cThe percentage of adults who have ever used marijuana is much lower among Hispanics, compared with white or black adults,\u201d according to the news release.<\/p>\n

But when it comes to the intersection of marijuana use and social class, the picture becomes hazier: The survey demonstrates that adults with higher incomes reported using marijuana at some point in their lives at much higher rates than their poorer peers, but individuals from lower-income households were much more likely to report \u201ccurrent use,\u201d meaning using marijuana in the previous 30 days.<\/p>\n

A different study suggests Coloradans as a whole use marijuana at a higher rate than their fellow Americans.<\/p>\n

Nationally, 7.4 percent of U.S. adults used marijuana in a 30-day time span, according to the 2013 National Survey of Drug Use and Health, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n

That survey found that states with legal retail marijuana had a higher percentage of use than the rest of the country; reports of current use in those states ranged from 12.1 percent as a low to Colorado\u2019s 12.9 percent as the high.<\/p>\n

cmcallister@ durangoherald.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

10 times more likely to consume than older residents<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[135,1611,1610],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-111641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-marijuana","tag-medical-marijuana","tag-recreational-marijuana"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111641"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=111641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}