ArticleAddictive behaviors2016
Comparing adults who use cannabis medically with those who use recreationally: Results from a national sample.
Article in Addictive behaviors, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 96 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
96 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 197 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cannabis use among cancer survivors: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2026Pooled it
- Evaluation of potential drug-drug interactions with medical cannabis.Clinical and translational science · 2024Pooled it
- Acute Effects of Cannabis on Alcohol Craving and Consumption: A Randomized Controlled Crossover Trial.The American journal of psychiatry · 2026Trial
- The Cannabis Effects Expectancy Questionnaire-Medical (CEEQ-M): Preliminary psychometric properties and longitudinal validation within a clinical trial.Psychological assessment · 2023Trial
- Psychological Distress Mediates the Relationship Between Perceived Social Isolation and Medical vs. Recreational Marijuana Use Among Adults in the United States.Psychiatry international · 2026Article
- The Cannabis Use Disorder Identification Test - Consumption (CUDIT-C) as a targeted tool for cannabis use screening.Addictive behaviors · 2025Article
- Factors associated with cannabis use disorder among Australians using prescribed and illicitly-sourced medical cannabis.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2025Article
- Working under the influence of cannabis amongst medical cannabis patients with chronic pain.The American journal on addictions · 2025Article
- The association between chronic medical health conditions and Delta-8 THC use among U.S. Adults.Journal of substance use · 2025Article
- The prevalence and correlates of self-reported cannabis use for medicinal, dual and recreational motives in Australia: Findings from the National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2022/2023.Drug and alcohol review · 2025Article
- Sleep, psychological symptoms, and cannabis use before, during, and after COVID-19 "stay-at-home" orders: a structural equation modeling approach.Journal of cannabis research · 2025Article
- Cannabis Consumption Among Adults Aged 55-65 in Canada, 2018-2021.Journal of drug issues · 2025Article
- Associations of Disability and Social Support with Cannabis Use Among Adults with Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms.Cannabis (Albuquerque, N.M.) · 2025Article
- Emerging trends in cannabis administration for women with chronic pain.Mental health science · 2024Article
- Association of Cannabis Use Reduction With Improved Functional Outcomes: An Exploratory Aggregated Analysis From Seven Cannabis Use Disorder Treatment Trials to Extract Data-Driven Cannabis Reduction Metrics.The American journal of psychiatry · 2024Article
- Effects of medical cannabis use on physical and psychiatric symptoms across the day among older adults.Psychiatry research · 2024Article
- Navigating the Grey Zone: The Impact of Legislative Frameworks in North America and Europe on Adolescent Cannabis Use-A Systematic Review.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Perceived Risk of Trying Lysergic Acid Diethylamide in the United States from 2015 to 2019: Are Americans Assessing Lysergic Acid Diethylamide's Risk Profile More Favorably?Psychedelic medicine (New Rochelle, N.Y.) · 2024Article
- Factors associated with the use of cannabis for self-medication by adults: data from the French TEMPO cohort study.Journal of cannabis research · 2024Article
- Cannabis use, decision making, and perceptions of risk among breastfeeding individuals: the Lactation and Cannabis (LAC) Study.Journal of cannabis research · 2024Article
36 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesCannabis has been legalized for medical use in almost half of the states in the U.S. Although laws in these states make the distinction between medical and recreational use of cannabis, the prevalence of people using medical cannabis and how distinct this group is from individuals using cannabis recreationally is unknown at a national level.
methodsData came from the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). All adults endorsing past year cannabis use who reported living in a state that had legalized medical cannabis were divided into recreational cannabis use only and medical cannabis use. Demographic and clinical characteristics were compared across these two groups.
results17% of adults who used cannabis in the past year used cannabis medically. There were no significant differences between those who used medically versus recreationally in race, education, past year depression and prevalence of cannabis use disorders. In adjusted analyses, those with medical cannabis use were more likely to have poorer health and lower levels of alcohol use disorders and non-cannabis drug use. A third of those who reported medical cannabis use endorsed daily cannabis use compared to 11% in those who reported recreational use exclusively.
conclusionsAdults who use medical and recreational cannabis shared some characteristics, but those who used medical cannabis had higher prevalence of poor health and daily cannabis use. As more states legalize cannabis for medical use, it is important to better understand similarities and differences between people who use cannabis medically and recreationally.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.