Survey Associates Marijuana Use and Fondness for Songs with Pot References

Ninth-grade students who listen to music with marijuana references were about twice as likely to use the drugs as peers who didn’t listen to such songs, according to research from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

LiveScience reported Dec. 22 that researcher Brian Primack and colleagues surveyed 959 ninth-grade students, including 12 percent who reported current marijuana use and 32 percent who reported lifetime marijuana use.

The students listened to an average of 21.8 hours of music weekly, and heard an average of 40 musical marijuana references daily.

“Interestingly, we also found that exposure to marijuana in music was not associated with other high-risk behaviors, such as excessive alcohol consumption,” Primack said. “This suggests that there is a real link between the marijuana lyrics and marijuana use.”

However, he added, “Although it may be that heavy exposure to music about marijuana causes marijuana smoking, it may also be that those who smoke marijuana seek out music with lyrics related to marijuana.”

The study appears online in the journal Addiction.