A study conducted seven years ago in California found that adolescents who had seen advertisements for medical marijuana on billboards, magazines or other media in the past three months were more likely to use cannabis. Have you noticed the number of ads about the famous cannabidiol (CBD) using the marijuana leaf in their promotions? Are we facing a phenomenon that can reduce the risk perception of our country’s youth?
Two out of ten students between the ages of 14 and 18 have used cannabis in the past year. And those who admit to doing so in the past month say they smoke an average of three joints a day (one minus the girls). In this context, we use risk perception to understand the extent to which young people think that drug use can cause them problems. By measuring this parameter, we know if they are more or less cautious, since fear of it would obviously be a protective factor. For example, if we look at the 2006 data, we see that risk perception has dropped significantly. Previously, 70.6% of young people believed that smoking a joint was dangerous, now it is 52.2%.
And what does CBD have to do with all of this? Although this molecule was isolated by Roger Adams in the 1940s, rampant consumer interest in its properties is relatively recent, especially compared to cannabis’ long history. And the thing is, CBD comes from the same plant as the popular THC, but it doesn’t get you high or addictive. Just eight years ago, the CBD industry was valued at $170 million; today it is estimated at several billion.
Cannabidiol works for everything and everyone, or so it promises. Children, adults, the elderly and pets are the target of advertisements for creams, lotions, liquids for electronic cigarettes, infusions, toothpastes, aphrodisiac oils, soft drinks, cookies or jelly beans. All an incredible offer without a regulatory framework that can give us sufficient guarantees of its supposed effectiveness. Some studies even suggest that this type of product can become contaminated through improper cleaning or through pesticides, heavy metals or microorganisms.
In addition, cases of contamination with synthetic cannabinoids have been documented, albeit occasionally. That is, very strong THC-like compounds made in illegal labs. Not surprisingly, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has catapulted these types of products onto its list of emerging risks.
However, each of us can find products containing this seemingly miraculous molecule in many stores where we see marijuana leaves in their window displays. Surely most of you have seen these establishments growing like mushrooms in your neighborhood and I dare say at some point you have wondered if they sell traditional marijuana and if it is legal or not. I wonder what my 12 and 15 year old nephews will think when they see them. I imagine it will be similar to what I thought when I saw tobacco ads: nothing, they will just integrate the product as something normal that they have no reason to suspect.
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In the various polls conducted among the younger population, when asked, “If using hashish or marijuana were legal, would you try it?” two out of ten answered yes, representing a 2.8 percent increase would points compared to 2019. The arguments of those opposed to legalization confirm that legalizing recreational cannabis would lead to an increase in its use, and if we look at the data of the countries where it has been legalized, we note that the stakes have increased.
However, if we use our critical thinking and dig a little deeper into the causes, we discover that this surge began well before legalization. What was he reacting to? It seems that before the market expanded, many retail stores were opened to offer medicinal cannabis herbs and products. The point is that they have been poorly regulated and promoted on the basis of advertising, which has managed to change risk perceptions in a large part of the population. In other words, consumption hasn’t increased because of the legalization of the drug, but because of the lack of regulation of advertising in previous years.
Are there countries where cannabis has been legalized and risk perception has increased? Right, in Canada. A model that, by the way, we should watch very closely over the next few years to learn how to go through the upcoming regularization process. In Germany, nine out of ten young people are aware that cannabis can lead to addiction.
Canada has placed the focus of prevention on advertising regulation. Last year, for example, the silver-winning spot at the CLIO advertising awards used the famous gummy bear-shaped goofballs to convey the idea that “cannabis edibles aren’t as innocent as they seem.” The wonderful thing about this campaign is that it was broadcast free of charge in the ‘One Minute Responsibility’ section of the Euronews programme.
Similarly, Canada has also made great efforts to conduct surveys and create data collection programs in anticipation of legal changes related to cannabis. It wouldn’t hurt to think about your own tracking and analysis systems as, as we have seen, simply comparing prevalence rates between the months before legalization and the months after will not give us the full picture. It seems important to recognize that people – and governments – have different risk preferences when it comes to designing specific policies. If not, I don’t understand why we are so blatantly ignoring the normalization of the cannabis industry’s constant advertising.
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