Let’s Be Blunt: Consumption Methods Matter Among Black Marijuana Smokers

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Objective: Despite the high prevalence of blunt (i.e., hollowed-out cigars that are filled with marijuana) use among Black marijuana smokers, few studies have examined if and how blunt users differ from traditional joint users. Method: The current study compared the prevalence and patterns of use for those who smoked blunts in the past month (i.e., blunt users) with those who used marijuana through other methods (i.e., other marijuana users). The sample included 935 Black past-month marijuana smokers participating in the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Results: Among past-month marijuana smokers, 73.2% were blunt users and 26.8% were other marijuana users. Overall, blunt users initiated marijuana use at an earlier age (15.9 vs. 17.3 years, p < .01) and reported more days of marijuana use in the past month (16 vs. 8 days, p < .01) than did other marijuana users. There were also differences by gender. Among females, blunt users reported a higher odds of past-year marijuana abuse or dependence (23.8%) than other marijuana users (11.2%) (adjusted odds ratio = 1.23, 95% CI [1.12, 3.17], p < .01). However, blunt-using males reported similar odds of past-year marijuana abuse or dependence (approximately 25%) as other marijuana-using males. Conclusions: These findings highlight the need for targeted interventions for blunt users as a subgroup of marijuana users, especially among Black females, who may be at increased risk for developing a marijuana use disorder as a result of blunt smoking. (J.

Puff, puff, drink: The association between blunt and alcohol use among African American adolescents and young adults.

“…The rate of blunt use is relatively high among adolescent and young adult drinkers and further substantiates the association found between alcohol and blunt use in previous studies (Cohn et al, 2016; Montgomery & Mantey, 2017a, 2017b). High rates of blunt use among African Americans has also been observed among samples of marijuana users (Montgomery & Bagot, 2016; Timber- lake, 2009) and cigarette smokers (Corral, Landrine, Simms, & Bess, 2013). These findings highlight the high prevalence of blunt use among alcohol users, particularly among African Americans, and establishes support for future research to better understand the etiology for this specific typology of substance use (e.g., motives for simultaneous alcohol and marijuana use; Patrick, Fairlie, & Lee, 2018).…”

“…Blunts are partially or fully hollowed-out little cigars or cigarillos (LCCs) that are filled with marijuana and have been documented to be highly prevalent within African American communities, with heavy levels of blunt use (i.e., 21–30 days) reported by approximately 40% of African American past month blunt smokers (Fair-man, 2015). In national samples of African Americans who reported past month marijuana use, approximately 63%−73% reported consuming marijuana via blunts (Montgomery & Bagot, 2016; Timberlake, 2009). Blunts emerged as a phenomenon in the mid-1980s as an economical way to consume marijuana (Sifaneck, Kaplan, Dunlap, & Johnson, 2003) and were primarily smoked by individuals of African descent.…”

Sex and Gender Interactions on the Use and Impact of Recreational Cannabis

“…They described feeling more "grounded" than if they smoked only cannabis, and they preferred this effect as they were able to continue to participate in family and work responsibilities. In addition, blunt use-hollowed out cigars filled with cannabis, have been promoted through hip-hop culture [57], and are particularly popular among young Black males in the USA [58][59][60][61][62]. However, cannabis use ROAs that combine cannabis and tobacco, such as spliff and blunt use, confer greater risk of dependence [57] as well as adverse respiratory health effects.…”

Blunts versus joints: Cannabis use characteristics and consequences among treatment-seeking adults

“…First, the small number of studies (k = 3) drawn from regional areas (e.g., New York City; Ream et al, 2006) comparing blunt smokers to joint smokers limits our ability to draw strong conclusions about the effects of blunts relative to joints. Second, many studies compare blunt use with non-blunt cannabis use, rather than joint use in particular (Cohn et al, 2016;Fairman, 2015;Moolchan et al, 2005;Montgomery and Bagot, 2016;Timberlake, 2009). Several studies utilize data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health which assesses blunt use and overall cannabis use, but does not examine other methods of cannabis administration (e.g., joints, bongs).…”