Cannabis in the chart is not automatically the reason for the hospital visit

A whole study fits between “cannabis appears among the diagnoses” and “cannabis brought someone to hospital.” Published on 4 November in the American Journal of Psychiatry, the research examined more than 5 million emergency visits and hospitalizations among 1.36 million Americans aged 16–64 in 2016–2023 – the sample included only people with substance-related acute-care encounters. Cannabis appeared more often among younger people, alcohol among older people; the counts included secondary as well as primary diagnoses related to these substances. When only encounters with cannabis as the primary diagnosis were counted, their share of adolescent encounters declined instead. Nearly half of encounters mentioning cannabis also involved at least one other substance.