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Table 3 Current and lifetime patterns of cannabis use

From: Medical cannabis use in Australia: consumer experiences from the online cannabis as medicine survey 2020 (CAMS-20)

Characteristic

Prescribed only

Prescribed and illicit

Illicit only

Total

Comparisons estimate (95% CI)

Cannabis use before medical use, categorical non-binary, n (%)

Never used cannabis before medical use

126/186 (68%)a

63/320 (20%)bc

195/895 (22%)bc

384/1401 (27%)

PO – P + I: 8.6 (4.5, 16.4)

PO – IO: 7.5 (4.4, 13.0)

Used ‘recreationally’ but had ≥ 1 year break before medical use

52/186 (28%)ab

123/320 (38%)abc

382/895 (43%)bc

557/1401 (40%)

PO – IO: 0.5 (0.3, 0.9)

PO – P + I: 0.1 (0.0, 0.2)

Was using recreationally when started using medically

8/186 (4.3%)a

134/320 (42%)bc

318/895 (36%)bc

460/1401 (33%)

PO – IO: 0.1 (0.0, 0.3)

Age first tried cannabis for any reason, numeric, (N = 1405)

Mean (SD)

33.2 (21.5)a

20.1 (10.7)bc

21.7 (13.8)bc

22.9 (15.0)

PO – P + I: 13.2 (10.0, 16.3)

Median (IQR)

21 (16, 54)

16 (15, 20)

17 (15, 20)

17 (15, 21)

PO – IO: 11.5 (8.7, 14.3)

Age first regular cannabis use any reason, numeric, (N = 1405)

Mean (SD)

35.4 (23.7)a

27.0 (15.1)bc

28.4 (17.3)bc

29.0 (18.0)

PO – P + I: 8.4 (4.5, 12.4)

Median (IQR)

33 (18, 56)

22 (18, 33)

23 (18, 38)

24 (18, 39)

PO – IO: 11.5 (3.5, 10.4)

Age first regular cannabis use for medical reason, numeric, (N = 1402)

Mean (SD)

41.3 (22.6)a

36.1 (14.7)bc

35.5 (18.2)bc

36.4 (18.2)

PO – P + I: 5.2 (1.2, 9.2)

Median (IQR)

46 (28, 59)

35 (26, 45)

35 (23, 49)

35 (24, 50)

PO – IO: 5.8 (2.3, 9.4)

Never used cannabis regularly for any reason, binary categorical, n (%)

32/187 (17%)a

13/322 (4%)bc

63/896 (7%)bc

108/1405 (8%)

PO – P + I: 4.9 (2.2, 11.0)

PO – IO: 2.7 (1.6, 4.7)

Number of days in previous 28 used cannabis for any reason, numeric, (N = 1403)

Mean (SD)

21.8 (10.0)a

24.9 (6.7)bc

20.2 (10.2)bc

21.5 (9.7)

PO – P + I: -3.1 (-5.2, -1.0)

Median (IQR)

28 (15, 28)

28 (12, 28)

28 (12, 28)

28 (15, 28)

P + I – IO: 4.7 (3.2, 6.2)

Number of days in previous 28 used cannabis for medical reasons, numeric, (N = 1402)

Mean (SD)

21.3 (10.2)a

23.8 (8.0)b

18.7 (10.8)c

20.2 (10.4)

PO – P + I: -2.5 (-4.7, -0.2)

PO – IO: 2.7 (0.7, 4.6)

Median (IQR)

28 (14, 28)

28 (24, 28)

25 (7, 28)

28 (12, 28)

P + I – IO: 5.1 (3.6, 6.7)

Estimated proportion of cannabis use for medical reasons, numeric, Mean (SD), (N = 1392)

96.1 (14.2)a

91.9 (14.8)b

84.6 (21.4)c

87.8 (19.7)

PO – P + I: 4.2 (0.0, 8.5)

PO – IO: 11.5 (7.8, 15.2)

P + I – IO: 7.2 (4.2, 10.2)

100% of cannabis use for medical reasons, binary categorical, n (%)

146/186 (79%)a

177/322 (55%)b

378/884 (43%)c

701/1392 (50%)

PO – P + I: 3.0 (1.8, 4.9)

PO – IO: 4.9 (3.1, 7.6)

P + I – IO: 1.6 (1.2, 2.2)

Weekly cost of medical cannabis, numeric, (N = 1395)

Mean (SD)

$79.2 ($61.6)a

$114.0 ($77.4)b

$58.6 ($65.4)c

$74.0 ($71.6)

PO – P + I: -35.5 (-49.7, -19.6)

PO – IO: 20.6 (7.4, 33.7)

Median (IQR)

$60 ($35, $100)

$100 ($50, $155)

$40 ($7, $100)

$40 ($7, $100)

P + I – IO: 55.2 (44.6, 65.8)

Weekly cost of medical cannabis with respondents who did not pay excluded, numeric, (N = 1405)

Mean (SD)

$81.4 ($61.0)ac

$118.0 ($76.0)ab

$73.2 ($65.4)ac

$85.9 ($70.2)

PO – P + I: -36.5 (-51.7, -21.3)

Median (IQR)

$65 ($40, $100)

$100 ($50, $170)

$100 ($50, $155)

$50 ($25, $100)

P + I – IO: 44.7 (33.7, 55.7)

  1. Superscript letters a–c indicate statistically significant between-group differences: Pairs of columns that do not share letters are significantly different from each other (p < 0.05). Missing values excluded from denominator when calculating percentages. Some percentages may not total 100% due to rounding. Letters a–c indicate statistically significant between-group differences. Columns that share letters are NOT significantly different. Median (IQR) reported for count variables only. IQR = Interquartile range. For each outcome, pairwise comparisons were made for all three groups: PO – P + I, PO-IO, and P + I – IO. Estimates are unstandardised effects size for numeric variables and odds ratios for categorical or ordinal variables. Only significant comparisons reported