One in seven Brazilians aged 14 or older has used marijuana, reveal unprecedented data from the third National Alcohol and Drug Survey (Lenad III) on cannabis and other illicit psychoactive substances, published Friday. According to the study, this percentage has more than doubled in two decades, from 6.2% in 2012 to 15.8% in 2023.
The 142% increase is the most significant among the drugs analyzed. Cocaine experimentation, for example, increased from 3.88% to 5.38%; that of hallucinogens increased from 1.04% to 2.08%, and that of synthetic stimulants increased from 2.68% to 4.58%. On the other hand, the proportion of Brazilians who had used heroin once in their life remained stable (from 0.18% to 0.19%), and among those who had ever used crack, it decreased from 1.44% to 1.39%.
The research was carried out by the Alcohol and Drug Research Unit (Uniad) of the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp) in partnership with Ipsos and funded by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP). Lenad III surveyed 16,608 Brazilians aged 14 or older in 349 municipalities, spread across all regions of the country, in 2023.
The figures also show that habitual marijuana use has also increased by 114% in the country. In 2023, 6% reported using drugs in the past 12 months, the equivalent of around 10 million Brazilians and just over double the 2.8% recorded in the 2012 edition of the survey.
According to the survey, this adhesion occurs mainly among young people. The 18 to 24 year old group records the highest prevalence, with 23.3%, or around 1 in 4 people, having tried cannabis at some point in their life, and 13.2% reporting habitual use. The average age for trying the drug is 18, and almost half of users started using it before reaching adulthood.
The research also found that men consume more than women and that their consumption tends to increase with education level. While only 5.2% of people with no education have tried cannabis, that percentage peaks at 19.1% among those with college or more. The same thing is observed with regard to family income, increasing from 11.4% among Brazilians who earn up to a minimum wage and reaching 18.3% among those who earn three or more.
Concerning the prevalence of consumption by age group, Lenad showed that 6.2% of adolescents aged 14 to 17 report having used this substance at least once in their life, and 3.4% are habitual users. Compared to the 2012 survey, the percentages have changed little: 20 years ago, they were 4.7% and 3.8% respectively.
However, when analyzing genders, it is worth noting that while experimentation and daily use decreased from 7.3% to 4.6% and from 5.7% to 2.3% among boys, respectively, the percentages increased significantly among girls: from 2.1% to 7.9% of those who had used it at some point in their lives, and from 1.3% to 4.6% of those who used it. regularly.
Among adults, experimentation increased from 6.3% to 15.8%, and current use from 2.7% to 6.2%. The increase was consistent between the sexes in terms of lifetime consumption: from 10% to 21.3% for men and from 3% to 10.6% for women. However, when considering usual consumption, the percentage decreased slightly among men, from 4.7% to 4.1%, while it tripled among women, from 0.7% to 2.1%.
Compared to regions of the country, considering only the adult population, the highest prevalence of marijuana use in the past year was concentrated in the South (6.9%), Southeast (7%), and Midwest (6.6%), while the North (3.1%) and Northeast (5.2%) have lower percentages of habitual use.
Lenad also showed that more than half of cannabis users in Brazil reported using it daily for at least two consecutive weeks (54.2%). When considering the country’s total population, this figure represents 3.3%, or approximately 3.9 million people aged 14 or older.
The prevalence of cannabis use disorders remained stable between 2012 and 2023, representing 1.24% of the Brazilian population, or approximately 2 million people. Among the users evaluated in the research, however, a third presented criteria compatible with the disorder.
Generally speaking, considering all illicit psychoactive substances, that is, excluding alcohol and tobacco, the research showed that 18.7% of Brazilians aged 14 or older have used at least one drug at least once in their life (an increase of 82% compared to the 10.3% recorded in 2012), and 8.1% reported habitual consumption, which is 80% more than what had was observed twenty years ago.
“Compared to other countries, Brazil occupies an intermediate position in terms of the prevalence of use of cannabis and other illicit drugs. Brazilian estimates of recent cannabis use in the general population are lower than those observed in high-income countries with regulated markets or greater availability (such as Canada, the United States, and parts of Western Europe), but higher than those of many Latin American countries that still have low prevalence,” the authors wrote in the research.
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