SALT LAKE CITY -- A new report by the Utah Department of Health finds that roughly six percent of adults in the state admit to using marijuana.
The report, released Monday, said the majority of those use marijuana recreationally (42.3 percent). According to the report, another 30.8 percent used for both medical and non-medical reasons and another 26.9 percent used marijuana purely for medical reasons.
"However, the reason for using marijuana varied distinctly for those who also reported chronic pain, arthritis, or 7+ days of poor mental health within the past month. Users who reported chronic pain and users with arthritis mostly used marijuana only for medical reasons (56.2% and 48.0%). Users who reported seven or more poor mental health days during the past month reported use more evenly across all categories," the report said.
The data comes from survey information gathered in 2017 (the most recent available). "Current use" was defined as those who had acknowledged using marijuana within the past 30 days.
Adults aged 18-34 were the biggest group to use marijuana. Summit and Salt Lake Counties had the highest rates of marijuana use (10.5 and 8.2 percent, respectively). Utah County was among the lowest at 2.6 percent.
The report comes as Utah is implementing a medical cannabis program. Voters last year approved Proposition 2, which allowed for medical marijuana. However, the Utah State Legislature swapped out Prop. 2 with its own law that was the product of a "compromise" between initiative supporters and opponents.
The compromise law is now the subject of lawsuits.
Read the Utah Dept. of Health's marijuana report here (refresh the page if it doesn't immediately load):
