Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Interest in marijuana edibles has increased as perceptions of harm from marijuana have decreased. Media and peer influences impact youth substance use, and YouTube is the most popular video-sharing website. No studies have examined the content and accessibility of YouTube videos related to marijuana edibles.
OBJECTIVES:
To describe the messages conveyed to viewers in YouTube videos about edibles and determine their accessibility to youth.
METHODS:
On June 12, 2015, we searched YouTube for videos about marijuana/cannabis/weed edibles. A total of 51 videos were coded for presence of an age restriction, purpose(s) of the videos, consumption of edibles during the video, effects, and safety concerns.
RESULTS:
Total views across all 51 videos were >9 million. Only 14% (7/51) were restricted to viewers over the age of 18 years. Over half (27/51, 53%) were informative videos, most (20/27, 74%) teaching how to make edibles, and 37% (19/51) were entertaining videos. Someone consumed an edible in 31% (16/51) of the videos, and the type of high was mentioned in 51% (26/51) of the videos, including delayed (18/26, 69%) or intense high (13/26, 50%). Fifty-five percent (28/51) mentioned delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol potency or dosage. Only 10 of these (36%) presented this information specifically as a warning to prevent adverse effects.
Conclusions/Importance:
Edibles-related videos are easily found on YouTube, often instructing how to bake your own edibles and lacking information needed for safe consumption, and most are not age-restricted. Videos showing how to make edibles or presenting edibles use in an entertaining way that could influence youth to initiate use.
KEYWORDS:
Marijuana; YouTube; content analysis; edibles; social media
- PMID: 28145799
- DOI: 10.1080/10826084.2016.1253749
- [PubMed – as supplied by publisher]
