Behavioral Aspects of Marijuana Use.

This paper examines the behavioral aspects of marijuana use. The focus of the study was to investigate the attitudes and practices toward drugs by users and non-users and the relationship of these attitudes and practices to selected psychosocial factors. A survey instrument in the form of an anonymous questionnaire was developed and administered to a random sample of 164 college students in 1969. Results of the study indicated: (1) there are still numerous unanswerable questions concerning the multiple of variables related to marijuana use; (2) marijuana users cannot be automatically lumped with other drug users; (3) frequency of use may be a significant factor in attitudinal and behavioral variables; (4) the sample one studies may not be valid to generalize from; and (5) in the past few years marijuana has been reaching increasingly younger people who mostly agree that their use will continue. Lastly the author raises a number of legal, medical, psychological, and philosophical questions regarding marijuana use. (Author/WS)