According to Joseph Palamar, an assistant professor at NYU Langone Medical Center and a researcher who has an affiliation with New York University’s Center for Drug Use and HIV Research, “Nearly one out of 10 teens reported ever using hashish and it was used by a quarter of lifetime marijuana users.” Hashish is a drug related to marijuana only it is much more powerful. Many of the risk factors for marijuana are also risk factors for hashish. Palamar also reported that “Another key finding was that other drug use was a robust risk factor for hashish use. Other illicit drug use, regular cigarette smoking, and frequent alcohol use each increased the risk for hashish use; however, a main finding was that as frequency of other marijuana use increased, so too did risk for recent hashish use.”
The teen substance abuse study on hashish also showed that teenaged females were at a high risk for marijuana use but not for hashish use. This corroborates other findings that have shown males are more likely to use hard drugs than females. Since hashish has a much higher amount of THC it can be more dangerous, and have more severe side effects when these are experienced. Palamar also noted “Interestingly, our research found that students using marijuana because they identified as being ‘hooked’ on it nearly doubled the odds for hashish use. Since it is the more frequent marijuana users and those who feel they are hooked who are more likely to use hashish, in some instances hashish use can be used as an indicator of severity of marijuana use.”
