Cannabis is currently the most used illicit drug and most prevalent illicit substance use disorder (Hall, 2009; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA), 2014). Over half of emerging adults (18–25 year old) report using cannabis in their lifetime (SAMSHA, 2014) and the past-year prevalence of both cannabis use (Grucza et al., 2016; Hasin et al., 2015) and cannabis dependence has increased in the past decade (Hasin et al., 2015). Even more staggering, over a 10-year period, steep increases have been recorded in the prevalence of cannabis use among women (from 2.6% to 6.9%; Hasin et al., 2015). Significant gender differences in substance related etiology, epidemiology, and co-occurring psychopathology are evident (Tuchman, 2010) while research focused on cannabis pathology in women is sparse (Fattore et al., 2008; Hayaki et al., 2010). Racial factors are also important to consider as increases in both cannabis use and cannabis use disorder (CUD) in African-Americans have been reported, with cannabis use increasing from 4.7% to 12.7% and CUD from 1.8% to 4.6% between 2001 and 2013 (Hasin et al., 2015). Furthermore, CUD and
