Lutherology: Marijuana use on campus

Weed, ganja, mary jane, joints, you know what we’re talking about. It’s what all the college students are doing on the weekends...or is it?

Welcome to LUTHEROLOGY. This article series is dedicated to taking comprehensive data from surveys of Luther students in order to find social patterns at Luther and to determine how Luther students compare to the rest of America (doing a little sociology, you might say).

So how common is marijuana use at Luther? From 2006-2009, Luther’s Sociological Research Methods classes collected data midway through each fall semester. Based on a sample of 850 students, about 1 in 3 (32%, margin of error +/- 3%*) Luther students had ever used marijuana, while 68% of students had never used marijuana. About 20% of Luther students were “current” users at the time of the study; “current” users include those who “rarely,” “occasionally,” or “regularly” use marijuana. “Regular” users were around 3% of the Luther student body.

How do Luther students compare to the rest of the country? A comprehensive 2005 national study by the University of Michigan found that 45% of U.S. high school seniors have ever used marijuana. This compares to only 15% of first-years at Luther who have ever used marijuana--a significantly lower rate than nationally.

The number of people who try pot significantly increases with more time at Luther. While 15% of first-years have ever used, usage increases to 29% for sophomores, 39% for juniors and 46% for seniors. Even with this significant increase while at Luther, the rate of Luther’s seniors who have ever used marijuana only equals the rates of high school seniors across the country.

But never fear! While rates of “ever used” grow significantly over time at Luther, rates of “current” use grow more slowly. Only 8% of first-years, 19% of sophomores, 28% of juniors, and 28% seniors are “current” users (those who use rarely or more). And of the “current users,” most rarely partake — only 3% of Luther students “regularly” used marijuana. The rate of “regular” use only increased from 0.5% for first-years to 4% of seniors. This indicates that experimentation with marijuana increases over time at Luther, but most who merely tried it once or twice have now quit.

Is marijuana use on the rise at Luther? From 2006-2009 we see some overall increases, but they are not large enough (considering the sample size) to be statistically significant.

So what about gender difference? In the battle of the sexes, 40% of Luther men in our sample have ever smoked pot compared to only 27% of Luther women (for those who’ve taken stats, that difference is statistically significant).

But what other factors lead to marijuana use? Why do some toke up on weekends while others sit at home and play Mario Kart? We have shown that gender and age make a difference. Do you think religion does? Income? Political ideology? These questions, while important, are ones that we don’t have space here to comment on.

If you would like access to the data or want to suggest topics for future Lutherology articles e-mail us at lutherology@luther.edu.

*Margin of error (a.k.a., “sampling error”) estimates how far off our sample data probably is from the larger Luther student population we are trying to study (full-time 2006-2009 Luther students). How can we do this with only a sample of 850? It’s based on the laws of probability (take Math 115 to learn more). First, we had to select a “random” sample using a random number generator (we did this each year and collected the data going door-to-door over the four-year period). With a sample of 850 cases, the margin of error is approximately +/- 3%--meaning that there is a 95% likelihood that between 29% and 35% of full-time Luther students enrolled during the 2006-2009 period had ever used marijuana at the point they were surveyed.