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Purchasing Patterns |
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Cannabis was typically bought on one to four occasions per month, with users buying enough to sustain use for a week, fortnight or month. 43% of "deals" were for 1/8oz or less.
Around 5% of the sample bought cannabis less often than monthly. These included occasional users buying very little, and some heavy users purchasing in bulk. Some of those might have been dealers, but the mean of 161g bought by those whose most recent cannabis purchase was "in the past 6 months", could be consumed in two months, at the average usage rates given by those who bought weekly.
19% of respondents claimed to purchase cannabis daily or more often, and 30% had bought some "Today" or "Yesterday". Both figures seem very high. This is probably an effect of the surroundings, an event where occasional cannabis users would be more likely to indulge than in everyday life. The mean amount bought by weekly purchasers, 18.97g, was similar to what had been bought "this week", 18.46g.
In our 1994 study the average bought by all users was 64.3g per month, around 16g per week. This was much higher than the mean amount they claimed to use, 24.8g per month. There were also two differently - phrased questions each on frequency of use and on amounts spent, the answers to which correlated closely, making it less likely that discrepancies were caused by respondent errors. The differences could be accounted for by some buying on behalf of family and friends, and some for commercial resale. The correlation between amounts bought and amounts used was closest for the least frequent users. This is generally the same in the present study.
The patterns of consumption found in 1997 were similar to 1994, with the mean amount used slightly down and the maximum slightly up.
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Quantity of Cannabis bought on last occasion, by monthly purchase frequency |
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Base |
% |
Mean (g) |
St. Dev. |
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Not purchased |
14 |
1.7 |
12.02 |
29.67 |
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Less than monthly |
18 |
2.2 |
12.68 |
11.50 |
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Monthly |
181 |
22.0 |
22.00 |
84.77 |
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Fortnightly |
205 |
24.9 |
11.50 |
23.42 |
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Weekly |
245 |
29.8 |
18.97 |
70.96 |
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Daily |
77 |
9.4 |
13.35 |
32.65 |
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More than daily |
82 |
10.0 |
16.53 |
30.65 |
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Total |
822* |
100 |
21.16 |
132.56 |
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Quantity of Cannabis bought on last occasion, by most recent purchase |
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Base |
% |
Mean (g) |
St. Dev. |
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Longer/ never |
3 |
0.4 |
48.42 |
79.32 |
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Past year |
7 |
0.9 |
18.14 |
41.41 |
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Past 6 months |
29 |
3.7 |
160.81 |
668.22 |
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Past Month |
155 |
19.5 |
16.13 |
42.42 |
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Past Week |
358 |
45.1 |
18.46 |
62.30 |
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Yesterday |
179 |
22.6 |
14.53 |
35.81 |
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Today |
62 |
7.8 |
13.59 |
20.90 |
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Total |
793* |
100 |
21.16 |
132.56 |
* Total base (purchase quantity) = 857.
Respondents" answers re frequency of use and most recent purchase were missing in 25 and 64 cases respectively.
See Appendix for details of patterns of use, and their changes over time. A fuller analysis will be published in a separate paper.
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