Patterns of Co-occurring Modes of Marijuana Use Among Colorado High School Students

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to understand how adolescents concurrently use different modes of marijuana consumption. Methods: Using data from the 2017 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, we examined how modes of marijuana use (smoking/ingesting/vaping/dabbing/other)co-occur. We estimated the prevalence of all combinations of these modes among adolescents who reported past 30-day marijuana use (n = 3,618). We then estimated the prevalence of any use of each mode by each mode usually used. Results: Forty-one percent reported only smoking, another 10% reported smoking and dabbing, and 9.8% reported smoking and ingesting. Only about 10% used a combination of modes that did not include smoking. Smoking was the most common additional mode for all other usual modes of consumption. Conclusions: Smoking in combination with dabbing and/or ingesting were the most common multimode patterns of use. Nearly all adolescents who use marijuana smoke some or most of the time.