
High school students who use tobacco and cannabis products miss more school and have lower grades than classmates who use them individually or not at all. That’s the conclusion of a study by researchers at UC Davis Health. “Substance use is a main predictor of educational outcomes, including absenteeism,” said first study author Melanie Dove, an assistant adjunct professor of public health sciences at UC Davis. “These results highlight the need for comprehensive efforts to prevent and reduce substance use from both cannabis and tobacco products among youth.” For the study, her team analyzed 2021-22 data from the California Healthy Kids Survey. It included more than 287,600 ninth- and 11th-graders. Of that group: 3.7% used tobacco and cannabis 3.7% used cannabis only 1.7% used tobacco only Those who used both products missed an average three days of school in the preceding month — twice as many as teens who didn’t use both. Their grades suffered, too. On an 8-point scale with an 8 representing A’s and a 1 representing F’s, nonusers averaged about 6.2, mostly Bs. In comparison, double users averaged about 5.1 (mostly Bs and Cs), the survey showed. Classmates who used one substance also had poorer grades than abstainers. Tobacco users averaged 5.6; cannabis users averaged about 5.5 — or mostly B’s for both groups. The findings were recently published online in The Journal… read on > read on >