International Trends in Cannabis Use

Abstract

This chapter focuses on international trends. Mainly, the chapter provides estimates that illustrate generally stable recent trends in the frequency and occurrence of use in most countries for which survey data have been distributed, with some noteworthy exceptions to this stability. The chapter offers a first approximation of a global tour of cannabis smoking estimates and trends and covers evidence on the hypothesized possibility of a narrowing of the male–female difference in risk of becoming a cannabis user. The chapter closes with thoughts on an International Cannabis Products Safety Commission that is needed to keep track of trends and to investigate hypotheses about psychoses and other hazards attributed to consumer end-user ingestion of cannabis products.