Kaiser Permanente Survey on Prevalence of Cannabis Use Disorder

"The primary care sample of patients who used cannabis (n = 1463 patient respondents weighted to primary care population who used cannabis) was predominantly middle-aged (weighted mean [SD] age, 47.4 [16.8] years); female (748 [weighted proportion, 61.9%] vs 715 male [weighted proportion, 38.1%]), and commercially insured (935 [61.1%]) (Table 1). By self-report, 12 patients (weighted proportion, 0.2%) were American Indian or Alaska Native, 56 (weighted proportion, 2.4%) were Asian, 120 (weighted proportion, 4.9%) were Black, 10 (weighted proportion, 0.2%) were Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, 1029 (weighted proportion, 78.6%) were White, 95 (weighted proportion, 5.3%) reported multiple races, and 141 (weighted proportion, 8.3%) were of another or unknown race; 151 (weighted proportion, 3.5%) reported Hispanic ethnicity and 1239 (weighted proportion, 9.3%) non-Hispanic ethnicity.

"Among patients who used cannabis, the prevalence of patient reasons for cannabis use included 42.4% (95% CI, 31.2%-54.3%) reporting medical use only, 25.1% (95% CI, 17.8%-34.2%) reporting nonmedical use only, and 32.5% (95% CI, 25.3%-40.8%) reporting both reasons for use. Patients reporting medical use only tended to be older (mean [SD] age, 53.6 [14.6] years), were mostly female (142 [76.5%]), retired (67 [33.6%]), and mostly had Medicare (84 [33.7%]). The prevalence of patients who reported any medical cannabis use (ie, medical use only or both reasons for use) was 74.7% (95% CI, 65.7%-82.1%), while the prevalence of any reported nonmedical cannabis use (ie, nonmedical use only or both reasons for use) was 57.5% (95% CI, 45.6%-68.6%).

"The prevalence of any CUD was 21.3% (95% CI, 15.4%-28.6%) and did not differ depending on patient reasons for use (Table 2). The prevalence of moderate to severe CUD was 6.5% (95% CI, 5.0%-8.6%) and differed across groups: 1.3% (95% CI, 0.0%-2.8%) for medical use only; 7.2% (95% CI, 3.9%-10.4%) for nonmedical use only; and 7.5% (95% CI, 5.7%-9.4%) both reasons for use (P = .01). For all groups, the most prevalent CUD symptoms were tolerance, uncontrolled escalation of use and craving. Compared with patients with medical use only, patients with nonmedical use only or both reasons for use were more likely to report withdrawal, use in hazardous situations, continue use despite consequences, time spent on use, interference with obligations, and activities given up."