Purpose: To explore the
sentiment and themes of Twitter chatter that mentions both alcohol and
marijuana.
Design: Cross-sectional analysis of tweets mentioning both alcohol
and marijuana during 1 month was performed.
Setting: The study setting was
Twitter.
Participants: Tweets sent from February 4 to March 5, 2014, were
studied.
Method: A random sample (n = 5000) of tweets that mentioned alcohol
and marijuana were qualitatively coded as normalizing both substances,
preferring one substance over the other, or discouraging both substances. Other
common themes were identified.
Results: More than half (54%) of the tweets
normalized marijuana and alcohol (without preferring one substance over the
other), and 24% preferred marijuana over alcohol. Only 2% expressed a
preference for alcohol over marijuana, 7% discouraged the use of both
substances, and the sentiment was unknown for 13% of the tweets. Common themes
among tweets that normalized both substances included using the substances with
friends (17%) and mentioning substance use in the context of sex or romance
(14%). Common themes among tweets that preferred marijuana over alcohol were
the beliefs that marijuana is safer than alcohol (46%) and preferences for
effects of marijuana over alcohol (40%).
Conclusion: Tweets normalizing
polysubstance use or encouraging marijuana use over alcohol use are common.
Both online and offline prevention efforts are needed to increase awareness of
the risks associated with polysubstance use and marijuana use.
Purchase full article at: http://goo.gl/wBY6QP
By:
Melissa J. Krauss, MPH; Richard A. Grucza, PhD, MPE; Laura J. Bierut, MD; and Patricia A. Cavazos-Rehg, PhD, are with the Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
Send reprint requests to Melissa J. Krauss, MPH, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 South Euclid Avenue, Box 8134, St. Louis, MO 63110; kraussm@psychiatry.
More at: https://twitter.com/hiv_insight
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