The Joseph Rowntree Foundation report, based on interviews with 100 heavy cannabis users aged 16 to 25, says that the average age participants startedusing the drug was 13 years and eight months.
It highlights a "circular relationship", whereby young people who are unemployed, have left school with few educational qualifications and are experiencing family problems, tend to use more cannabis. This, in turn, often makes their personal circumstances even worse.
However, the study says: "For young people in more socially secure situations, their cannabis use did not seem to interfere with their studies or relationships with their parents, not least because in some instances parents were not aware that their child was using cannabis. These young people, therefore, appeared to be on track to make successful transitions, particularly from education to the labour market."
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