The availability and current use of marijuana among adults

The bulk of previous research on marijuana use shares three common features. First, it focuses on "high-risk" student or adolescent populations. Second, researchers have emphasized the "ever-used" category of marijuana use. Third, reported use rates are generally based on the percentage of users in the total population of interest. By using the total population as the denominator when calculating use rates, researchers assume that everyone has an equal opportunity to smoke marijuana. This paper suggests using a use-availability ratio to adjust for potential access to marijuana and to determine which segments of the population are "high risk."