“Don’t make too much fuss about it.” Negotiating adult cannabis use

Exclusive Therapeutic Use of Cannabis in a Large Sample of Daily Cannabis Users in France: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Many cannabis users report therapeutic benefits from cannabis consumption, even when not recommended by a physician. To date, few data on therapeutic users of cannabis in France are available. Using a cross-sectional survey held in 2020, we collected sociodemographic, health and substance use data from 4150 daily cannabis users in France. We used multivariable logistic regression to assess factors associated with exclusive therapeutic use of cannabis. Approximately 10% (n = 453) of the participants reported using cannabis exclusively for therapeutic purposes. Exclusive therapeutic users of cannabis differed from non-exclusive (i.e. recreational and mixed) users, especially regarding age (aOR [95%CI] = 1.01 [1.00-1.02]), employment (aOR = 0.61 [0.47-0.79]), urban area of residence (aOR = 0.75 [0.60-0.94]), physical (aOR = 2.95 [2.34-3.70]) and mental health condition (aOR = 2.63 [1.99-3.49]), mode of cannabis administration (non-smoked, aOR = 1.89 [1.22-2.95); smoked with little tobacco, aOR = 1.39 [1.09-1.76]), frequency of cannabis use (aOR = 1.04 [1.01-1.06]), home cultivation (aOR = 1.56 [1.13-2.15]), at-ridsk alcohol use (aOR = 0.68 [0.54-0.84]), and previous-month opiate use (aOR = 1.67 [1.22-2.30]). A greater understanding of the distinct profiles of regular cannabis users could inform harm reduction strategies and care access for this population. Further studies are needed to better understand the boundaries between therapeutic and recreational use.

Negotiating Emerging Adulthood With Master and Counter Narratives: Alcohol-Related Identity Trajectories Among Emerging Adults in Performance-Oriented Neoliberal Society

This study analyzes how emerging adults negotiate their relation to alcohol in the context of declining youth drinking and how this relationship changes over time. The sample consists of longitudinal qualitative interview data ( N = 28) with 9 boys and 19 girls aged 15 to 21. The participants were recruited through schools, social media and non-governmental organizations from mainly the Stockholm region and smaller towns in central Sweden to reach a heterogeneous sample in terms of sociodemographic factors and drinking practices. We interviewed the participants in-depth three times between 2017 and 2019. Thematic coding of the whole data with NVivo helped us select four cases for more detailed analysis, as they represented the typical trajectories and showed the variation in the material. We used the master narrative framework and Bamberg’s narrative positioning analysis to examine the data. The analysis demonstrates what kinds of narrative alignments in identity development encourage heavy drinking, moderate alcohol consumption, and fuel abstinence. The results suggest that the decline in youth drinking is produced by a co-effect of multiple master narratives that intersect and guide the identity development away from heavy drinking.

Overview: Exploring the onto-politics of cannabis

The composition, use, policies, and the societal position of cannabis are changing and diversifying internationally. Cannabis has emerged as an object of much controversy and is subject to varying forms of regulation. Its role and regulation are also debated in the Nordic countries. To shed light on such developments, this special issue sets out to explore how the phenomenon of cannabis, and related policies and subjectivities, are currently made, unmade, and transformed in multiple ways through discourses, practices, and materiality, and with different consequences.

Patterns and correlates of workplace and non-workplace cannabis use among Canadian workers before the legalization of non-medical cannabis

BACKGROUND

Little information exists about cannabis use and its correlates among workers, particularly use before or at work, which may impact occupational safety. This study explores overall and workplace cannabis use patterns before legalization among Canadian workers and estimates the associations of personal and work-related characteristics with workplace and non-workplace cannabis use.

METHODS

Cross-sectional data were collected from 1651 Canadian workers in June 2018. The primary outcome was past-year cannabis use pattern: use, including before/at work (past-year workplace use); use, but not before/at work (past-year non-workplace use); no past-year use (non-past-year use). The associations of personal (sociodemographic, health) and work-related factors with workplace and non-workplace cannabis use were estimated using multinomial logistic regression.

RESULTS

A quarter of respondents reporting past-year cannabis use used cannabis before and/or at work. Respondents reporting workplace use were more likely to report more frequent cannabis use, use for medical or mixed purposes, and high THC cannabis use than workers reporting non-workplace use. Several personal factors were positively associated with workplace and non-workplace use (e.g., younger age, lower education). A safety-sensitive job, drug testing, supervisor role, less job visibility, lower perceived ability of supervisors to identify use/impairment, and less restrictive workplace smoking policies were positively associated with workplace use only.

CONCLUSIONS

A non-trivial proportion of workers reported workplace use, but the nature of this use is complex. Work-related factors addressing the likelihood of detection and being in a safety-sensitive job were associated with workplace use. Worker education on lower risk use appears warranted.