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This study investigates the evolution of educational disparities in smoking uptake across cohorts for men and women in three countries. Nationally representative surveys of adults in France, Germany and the United States in 2009–2010 include retrospective measures of age of uptake that are compared for three cohorts (born 1946–1960, 1961–1975, and 1976–1992). Discrete logistic regressions and a relative measure of education are used to model smoking histories until age 34. The following patterns are found: a strengthening of educational disparities in the timing of uptake from older to younger cohorts; an earlier occurrence of the strengthening for men than women and for the United States than France or Germany; a faster pace of the epidemic in France than in the United States, and; a divide between the highest level of education and the others in the United States, as opposed to a gradient across categories in France. Those differences in smoking disparities across cohorts, genders and countries help identify the national and temporal circumstances that shape the size and direction of the relationship between education and health and the need for policies that target educational disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Cannabis is the most popular illicit drug in the world, but the process of its diffusion through the population has rarely been studied. The unfolding of the tobacco epidemic was accompanied by a shift in the educational gradient of users across generations. As a consequence, cannabis may show the same pattern of widening social inequalities. We test the diffusion hypotheses that a positive value in older cohorts – the more educated experimenting more – shifts to a negative one in younger cohorts – the more educated experimenting less, first for males and then females. Methods Three nationwide subsamples (18–64 years old) of representative surveys conducted in France ( n = 21,818), Germany ( n = 7887) and USA ( n = 37,115) in 2009–2010 recorded age at cannabis experimentation (i.e., first use), educational level, gender, and age. Cumulative prevalence of experimentation was plotted for three retrospective cohorts (50–64, 35–49, 18–34 years old at data collection) and multivariate time-discrete logistic regression was computed by gender and generation to model age at experimentation adjusted on age at data collection and educational level. This latter was measured according to four categories derived from the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) and a relative (rather than absolute) index of education. Results The findings demonstrate a consistent pattern of evolution of the prevalence, gender ratio and educational gradient across generations and countries that support the hypothesis of an “epidemic” of cannabis experimentation that mimics the epidemic of tobacco. Conclusion We provide evidence for a cannabis epidemic model similar to the tobacco epidemic model. In the absence of clues regarding the future of cannabis use, our findings demonstrate that the gender gap is decreasing and, based on the epidemic model, suggest that we may expect widening social inequalities in cannabis experimentation if cannabis use decreases in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The most recent health surveys in general population are used in order to estimate the annual market size for cannabis in France in 2005. Methods. Two methods for arriving at an estimate are proposed: the first based on reported consumption, the other on reported expenditure on cannabis. Results. The annual sales figure for cannabis in France is between 746 and 832 million euros. Men's expenditure accounts for between 80 and 85% of total expenditure and those aged between 15 and 24 years account for the greatest part of the size of the cannabis market, between 57 and 60%, depending upon the method. Conclusions. According to these estimates, consumers' average annual expenditure on cannabis is around [euro]202 in France, compared to estimates obtained for New Zealand and Holland ([euro]124) and the United States ([euro]362). [Legleye S, Ben Lakhdar C, Spilka S. Two ways of estimating the euro value of the illicit market for cannabis in France. Drug Alcohol Rev 2008;27:466-472] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]