Key Takeaways
Extended Takeaways
- In this nationally representative 2022 sample, 284 (weighted 11.6%) reported cannabis use and 70 (weighted 2.9%) had probable CUD, reinforcing that clinically significant cannabis-related problems affect a substantial minority of veterans in routine practice.
- The Pacific region stood out not only for cannabis use (18.6%) but for probable CUD (8.8%), a rate the authors note exceeds the contemporary estimate for the general adult US population (7%), suggesting clinicians in that region should have a lower threshold to assess impaired control and functional consequences rather than use alone.
- New England had relatively high cannabis use (13.4%) but much lower probable CUD (3.5%), and its cannabis use prevalence did not significantly differ from any other region (all Ps > .17); high use prevalence alone may therefore not reliably indicate the same level of disorder burden across regions.
- Probable CUD was concentrated in a younger but still older veteran subgroup, with mean age 53 years, while cannabis users had a mean age of 59 years, supporting cannabis-related assessment even in aging veterans rather than focusing only on younger adults.
- Veterans with probable CUD were less likely to have completed college, less likely to have served 10 or more years, less likely to be married/partnered, and more likely to rely on the VA as their primary source of health care, which can help clinicians identify patients who may warrant more careful screening.
- State-level patterns suggest clinicians should not assume risk is limited to recreationally legal states: among states with at least 30 respondents, Oklahoma had 20.5% cannabis use, and North Carolina and Indiana were among the top 5 for probable CUD at 9.0% and 4.9%, respectively.
