The Association Between Marijuana Usage and Discrimination Among Adult Black Men

Abstract

Black men may use marijuana as an externalizing coping mechanism to handle the chronic stress of discrimination. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between everyday and major discrimination and marijuana use among a national sample of Black men. Using the National Survey of American Life, logistic regression analyses was used to determine the association between recent marijuana use and everyday discrimination, major discrimination, and a fully adjusted model that include everyday and major discrimination among adult Black men ( n = 1,833). Additionally, a multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the association between the frequency of marijuana usage and everyday discrimination and major discrimination among men who used marijuana in the past year. Everyday discrimination was not associated with marijuana use. In the fully adjusted model, men who experienced major discrimination had a higher odds of marijuana use ( OR: 1.19, 95% CI [1.05, 1.34]), than those who did not control for everyday discrimination and covariates of interest. Among recent marijuana users, men who used almost every day had a decreased risks for major discrimination (RRR: 0.72, 95% CI [0.56, 0.92]), compared with men who used less than once a month. The findings suggest that recent marijuana use among Black men is associated with experiences of major discrimination. Interestingly, men who used almost every day had a decreased risk for major discrimination. Marijuana may be used as a coping mechanism.

Perceived Racism-based police use of force and cannabis use among Black emerging adults

“…Our findings revealed that male participants who reported higher rates of indirect exposure to perceived racism-based police use-of-force were significantly more likely than females to report cannabis use, which is congruent with previous studies that have found a significant positive association between racial discrimination and cannabis use among Black emerging adult males ( Assari et al, 2019 , Gerrard et al, 2012 , Parker et al, 2017 ). Male participants in the current study may have engaged in cannabis use as a way to cope with their emotional responses to indirect exposure to perceived racism-based police use-of-force events ( Campbell and Valera, 2020 , Gibbons et al, 2010 ).…”

Discrimination, psychological functioning, and substance use among U.S. young adults aged 18–28, 2017.

“…Unfortunately, this study did not consider measures of psychological functioning. Conversely, Parker et al (2017) did not find an association between everyday discrimination This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.…”

Neighborhood Contexts and Marijuana Use Among Urban Dwelling Emerging Adult Men

“…This positive association supports previous assertions that disadvantaged neighborhood context can increase minority emerging adult males’ health vulnerability and risk of marijuana use ( Clarke et al, 2014 ; Furr-Holden et al, 2015 ; Green et al, 2016 ; Kogan et al, 2017 ; Powell et al, 2016 ; Stone et al, 2012 ; Uphoff et al, 2013 ). One possible explanation for this relationship is that minority emerging adult males may engage in marijuana use to mitigate their experiences of psychological distress elicited by residing in disadvantaged neighborhoods ( Parker, Benjamin, Archibald, & Thorpe, 2016 ; Preston, 2006 ). The chronic stress of residing in neighborhoods wrought with physical and social problems can lead to depression and anxiety and incite minority emerging adult males to use marijuana as an externalizing coping mechanism ( Hurd, Stoddard, & Zimmerman, 2012 ; Reboussin et al., 2015 ).…”