SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Addictive Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1511563
Cannabis Use among Arab Students: A Systematic Review
Provisionally accepted
- 1American University of Beirut, Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
- 2Lebanese American University, Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
- 3University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States
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The rising global prevalence and potential harms of cannabis use among adolescents and young adults are cause for concern. This systematic review focuses on the Arab world, compiling research on cannabis consumption among school and university students, where use has significantly increased but remains inadequately evaluated. The review was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42021285103). Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, two researchers searched PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and PsycInfo from inception to 9 May 2024, with no filters or language restrictions. Grey literature was identified through structured searches in Google Scholar and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global on 30 August 2024, as well as through reference list screening and citation tracking of the included articles. Keywords used included "cannabis", "student", and "Arab". From 5,820 potentially eligible records, 31 manuscripts were identified and 17 records were retrieved from the grey literature. A total of 48 cross-sectional studies from 13 Arab countries met the inclusion criteria and were included in the synthesis. Of these, 20 studies focused on school settings (sample sizes: 140-10,648), and 29 examined university students (sample sizes: 172-7,445). The most commonly used assessment tools were the Global School-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS) for school students and the WHO-based Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) for university students. Lifetime cannabis use prevalence ranged from 0.7% in Iraq to 9.4% in Morocco among school students, and from 4.7% in Tunisia to 32% in Lebanon and Egypt among university students. Cannabis use was more prevalent among university students. Key correlates included male gender, older age, family discordance, peer pressure, lower religiosity, and psychiatric symptoms. These findings align with global patterns and emphasize the need for early intervention, psychoeducation, and targeted prevention strategies to mitigate cannabis-related risks among youth in the Arab world.
Keywords: Cannabis, marijuana, Arab, student, School, University
Received: 15 Oct 2024; Accepted: 10 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sabalbal, Eid, Kobeissy, Baroud and El Hayek. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Samer El Hayek, American University of Beirut, Beirut, 1107 2020, Beirut, Lebanon
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