One in five people between 12 and 70 years old, (17.7% of the Costa Rican population) have used marijuana at least once in their lives. This data is derived from the Forum on Marijuana, neurodevelopment and risk behaviors in adolescents conducted by the Institute on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (IAFA).
This forum aimed to know why people use psychoactive substances such as marijuana, and its consequences in the short, medium and long term.
Other conclusions reached are:
-Men consume three times more marijuana than women.
-As there are higher levels of prevalence in marijuana, it follows that more people are starting their consumption, and they do so at an earlier age, with 14.2 years old as an average age among high school students, and 18.1 years old among the general population.
-9.4% of the population of high school students have used marijuana in the past year, while 4.9% have done in the last month, which gives indications of consumers with a pattern of regular consumption.
-60% of young people believe that marijuana is less harmful than other psychoactive substances when used frequently, reflecting the ignorance we have of the negative consequences of excessive consumption of the substance.
The results presented above were collected through two surveys: the National Survey on Drug Use in the General Population and the National Survey on Drug Use among secondary education population.