New York is turning into a real Baked Apple.
A third of Gotham residents ages 18 to 25 smoke, vape or otherwise ingest cannabis, according to the first-ever report on marijuana use by the city’s Health Department.
The new study also found that a quarter of city adults ages 26 to 34 toke weed. Meanwhile, some 16% of high school students reported usage, lower than the state average of 18% and national average of 20%, according to the data culled from 2016 and 2017.
The toking rate among youths has been stable over the past decade, health officials said.
Among adolescents, gender usage was about the same with girls (16%) just as likely as teenage boys (15%) to report cannabis use during the past month.
But the survey also found that more white residents are getting stoned than others.
Nearly one quarter of white New Yorkers — 24% — reported smoking marijuana, compared to 14% of black residents and 12% of Hispanics.
When it comes to actual abuse of cannabis, hospital emergency room visits among Bronx residents (61.6 per 100,000 residents) was over 1.5 times that of Staten Island, Brooklyn and Manhattan residents (39.0, 38.6 and 36.1 per 100,000, respectively), and nearly 2.5 times that of Queens residents (25.4 per 100,000).
The study comes amid debate in New York about whether to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, in large part because young residents of color account for most of the pot arrests and charges despite their lower usage.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has endorsed the legalized sale of marijuana. Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers debated the issue earlier this year but failed to come to an agreement to OK the sale of cannabis.
City prosecutors hailed the study. “This groundbreaking report provides New York policymakers with the data they need to legalize and regulate cannabis once and for all,” said Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. “New York is already one of the world’s largest cannabis markets, but our state’s continued criminalization has allowed an inherently more dangerous, illicit market to flourish.”
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said, “The Health Department’s study on cannabis use in our city shows what we have long known — that white people use marijuana at significantly higher rates than do black people and Latinos. And yet nearly 90% of those arrested for marijuana possession have been black and brown people. This is why the Brooklyn DA’s office no longer prosecutes anyone for simple possession of marijuana.”
https://nypost.com/2019/09/24/one-third-of-young-nyc-residents-smoke-pot-study/
A third of Gotham residents ages 18 to 25 smoke, vape or otherwise ingest cannabis, according to the first-ever report on marijuana use by the city’s Health Department.
The new study also found that a quarter of city adults ages 26 to 34 toke weed. Meanwhile, some 16% of high school students reported usage, lower than the state average of 18% and national average of 20%, according to the data culled from 2016 and 2017.
The toking rate among youths has been stable over the past decade, health officials said.
Among adolescents, gender usage was about the same with girls (16%) just as likely as teenage boys (15%) to report cannabis use during the past month.
But the survey also found that more white residents are getting stoned than others.
Nearly one quarter of white New Yorkers — 24% — reported smoking marijuana, compared to 14% of black residents and 12% of Hispanics.
When it comes to actual abuse of cannabis, hospital emergency room visits among Bronx residents (61.6 per 100,000 residents) was over 1.5 times that of Staten Island, Brooklyn and Manhattan residents (39.0, 38.6 and 36.1 per 100,000, respectively), and nearly 2.5 times that of Queens residents (25.4 per 100,000).
The study comes amid debate in New York about whether to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, in large part because young residents of color account for most of the pot arrests and charges despite their lower usage.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has endorsed the legalized sale of marijuana. Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers debated the issue earlier this year but failed to come to an agreement to OK the sale of cannabis.
City prosecutors hailed the study. “This groundbreaking report provides New York policymakers with the data they need to legalize and regulate cannabis once and for all,” said Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. “New York is already one of the world’s largest cannabis markets, but our state’s continued criminalization has allowed an inherently more dangerous, illicit market to flourish.”
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said, “The Health Department’s study on cannabis use in our city shows what we have long known — that white people use marijuana at significantly higher rates than do black people and Latinos. And yet nearly 90% of those arrested for marijuana possession have been black and brown people. This is why the Brooklyn DA’s office no longer prosecutes anyone for simple possession of marijuana.”
https://nypost.com/2019/09/24/one-third-of-young-nyc-residents-smoke-pot-study/
