Summary
Youth and Cannabis Advertisements
In a national survey study with 20 legal cannabis states among youth (ages 16-20), we examined whether greater scores on a cannabis advertisement exposure index varied between types of jurisdiction (med- only vs. nonmedical states) was associated with greater odds of past-week cannabis use prevalence and cannabis use disorder (CUD). No associations were found between the cannabis advertisement exposure index and past-week use status in youth for either jurisdiction. However, CPPC found that in medical-only states (not adult use states), greater advertisement exposure was associated with greater odds of CUD even when controlling for other relevant variables. These findings were strengthened after a Z- score test was used to find that more frequent exposure to cannabis advertisements was more strongly correlated to problematic cannabis use in medical-only states (r=.38, p <.01) than adult use states (r=-.002, p=.98).
These findings suggest that exposure to cannabis advertisements may present greater risk for CUD in states with medical-only cannabis laws, and suggest that further research is needed to examine the impacts of cannabis advertisements on youth across fully legal, medical, and illegal states.
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