Addictive behaviors | 2019
Blunt use and menthol cigarette smoking: An examination of adult marijuana users.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION\nUse of menthol cigarettes remains highly prevalent among African American smokers and has increased among White and Hispanic/Latino smokers. Research is needed to examine if behavioral factors, such as marijuana use, are differentially associated with menthol cigarette use among racially/ethnically diverse samples of marijuana users.\n\n\nMETHODS\nUsing data from the 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, this study examined the association between past month marijuana (blunt versus non-blunt) and cigarette (non-menthol cigarette versus menthol cigarette versus no cigarette) use, as well as racial/ethnic differences in this relationship.\n\n\nRESULTS\nAmong all marijuana users (N\u202f=\u202f5,137), 34.1% smoked blunts, 28.7% smoked non-menthol cigarettes and 18.0% smoked menthol cigarettes, with the highest rates of blunt (63.8%) and menthol cigarette (38.9%) use found among African American adults. Multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed a significant association between blunt use and non-menthol cigarette use (versus non-use) and menthol cigarette use (versus non-menthol cigarette and no cigarette use) among the full sample. When stratified by race/ethnicity, this finding was consistent for non-Hispanic White (n\u202f=\u202f3,492) and partially consistent for Hispanic/Latino (n\u202f=\u202f839) adults. However, among African American adults (n\u202f=\u202f806), blunt use was not significantly associated with non-menthol cigarette use or menthol cigarette use.\n\n\nDISCUSSION\nBlunt use is associated with increased odds of non-menthol and menthol cigarette use, but only among Hispanic/Latino and White adults. Examining racial/ethnic differences in the association between marijuana and tobacco use is important to understanding disparities and informing prevention and treatment interventions and drug policies.