The Cannabis Youth Treatment Study: Implications for Employee Assistance Programs

Abstract

A resurgence of youthful illicit drug experimentation during the past decade has sparked an increase in the number of drug-related evaluations and consultations conducted by employee assistance (EA) professionals. One of the most frequent and troublesome of such requests involves the parent who is concerned about his or her child’s experimentation with cannabis (marijuana, hashish, blunts). During the past two decades, America has witnessed the increased availability and potency of cannabis and a significant lowering of the age of onset of regular cannabis use. American teenagers report more past-month cannabis use than all other illicit substances combined and more daily use of cannabis than alcohol. These changes have brought an increase in cannabis-related problems among young people. Cannabis is now the leading substance reported in adolescent arrests, emergency room admissions, and public treatment admissions, the latter having increased 115% (from 51,081 to 109, 875) between 1992 to 1998.iii These changes have brought an increase in cannabis-related problems among young people and concerns about how to address these problems within the family, school, workplace, and the wider community.