Pot consumption rises from 4 to 10 percent among adults as attitudes and laws have become more tolerant

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - As attitudes and laws in the U.S. have become more tolerant of marijuana, the proportion of adults using and abusing the substance at least doubled between 2001 and 2013, according to a new study.

Although marijuana dependence and abuse was found to be on the rise, that is largely due to the overall increase in new users, researchers note, while existing marijuana users experienced a 15% decline in pot-related disorders.

Marijuana use and marijuana use disorders both increased from 2001, according to a new study.

The legalization of pot use in many states could have led to more people viewing marijuana as harmless. (Photo : Google Commons)

A new study has found that marijuana use among adults in the U.S. has doubled from 2001 to 2013, and marijuana use disorders have also increased, according to CBS News.

With cannabis legal in 23 states and Washington, D.C., rolling a joint or pulling on a bong has become increasingly more socially acceptable as a recreational lifestyle choice. No wonder, then, that more and more women are putting down the booze and picking up the pipe.

For more than two decades, Marc-Boris St-Maurice has been fighting for the legalization of marijuana.

Now, that dream appears closer than ever to becoming a reality, with prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau making a promise to legalize and regulate pot a key tenet in his party platform. 

"I think we've come a long way," said St-Maurice, the founder of the Bloc Pot, a Quebec pro-marijuana party, and a card-carrying Liberal for the past ten years.

"The tipping point has been reached. We've now reached those so-called winning conditions."

Exactly how and when the changes will be put into place, however, remains unclear. St-Maurice said he's "cautiously optimistic" the incoming Liberal government will follow through on its promise.

Cannabis advocates have created a monster, and its name is Buddie.

The green cannabis bud with a cool smile, six-pack abs and a cape is for campaigners the walking advertisement for Responsible Ohio, an initiative on the November ballot to legalize pot in the state.

But to many marijuana legalization advocates, Buddie represents an unsettling shift in power, out of the hands of the traditional policy movement and into those of green-eyed newcomers clamoring to be part of a burgeoning profitable industry.

In this Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015, file photo, a flower nearly ready for harvest sits atop a mature marijuana plant at the Pioneer Production and Processing marijuana growing facility in Arlington, Wash. According to results published Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015, in JAMA Psychiatry, marijuana use among U.S. adults doubled over a decade, rising to almost 10 percent or more than 22 million mostly recreational users, according to government surveys. The trend reflects a cultural shift and increasingly permissive views about the drug, researchers say, noting that other studies have shown increasing numbers of adults think marijuana should be legalized. Photograph by: Elaine Thompson, File , AP

We probably think we know why most people want cannabis legalised. People just want to get high right?

That anyway, or for its medicinal properties. Cannabis has long been used as pain relief and many believe there are plenty more medical uses for it.

But it turns out mankind has been using the plant in a number of other unusual and inventive ways you might not have thought of.

Here are some of the surprising ways we’ve been using this Class B drug – or could use in the future.

For the record, cannabis is illegal and people found in possession of the drug could face up to five years in prison.

Is it okay to give medical marijuana to pets? It's a question that I get a lot in my email and social media inboxes. And to be honest, I first scoffed at the idea, assuming that these owners just wanted a reason to get their pets high.

The federal Liberals’ campaign promise to legalize recreational pot will likely shake up the economics of both the black market and medical cannabis industries, say ...

The federal Liberals’ campaign promise to legalize recreational pot will likely shake up the economics of both the black market and medical cannabis industries, say experts.

But B.C. marijuana advocacy lawyer Kirk Tousaw said the new government will first have to look to other jurisdictions if it wants to be successful at regulating recreational cannabis.