Social media posts about e-cigs and cannabis may be increasing teens' use

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-06-25 01:00

International

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A survey of 7,612 adolescents in California, USA found that seeing a lot of posts about cannabis on social media was linked with an increase in use of e-cigarettes or cannabis or both within a year, while seeing a lot of TikToks about e-cigs was linked with an increase in use of cannabis or both e-cigs and cannabis within a year. Seeing e-cig and cannabis posts by 'microinfluencers' was also linked to higher cannabis use, while seeing e-cig posts from friends was linked with increased use of both cannabis and e-cigs, and seeing friends' cannabis posts was linked with increased use of both cannabis and e-cigs. The researchers behind the study say the results suggest exposure to e-cig or cannabis posts on social media may contribute to teens' use of these substances. Improved community guidelines and policies to address social media marketing of e-cigs and cannabis may help prevent youth substance use, they conclude.

Media release

From: JAMA

E-Cigarette and Cannabis Social Media Posts and Adolescent Substance Use

About The Study: In this survey study of California adolescents, exposure to e-cigarette or cannabis posts was associated with adolescent e-cigarette, cannabis, or dual use. Improvement of social media community guidelines and greater policy attention to co-use and marketing of e-cigarettes and cannabis may help prevent youth substance use.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Southern California, USA

Funder: Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grant R01CA260459). Additional supportwas provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (grant K01DA055073).

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