Analysis of social media compliance with cannabis advertising regulations: evidence from recreational dispensaries in Illinois 1-year post-legalization

Abstract

Background In the USA, an increasing number of states have legalized commercial recreational cannabis markets, allowing a private industry to sell cannabis to those 21 and older at retail locations known as dispensaries. Research on tobacco and alcohol suggests this new industry will use aggressive marketing tactics to attract new users and promote greater intensity of use. Of concern is that cannabis company advertising campaigns may be appealing to youth, promote false or misleading health claims, and disproportionately target low-income and minority communities. In this study, we evaluated recreational cannabis dispensary compliance with advertising regulations on social media in the state of Illinois. Methods Primary data were collected from a census of recreational dispensary Facebook and Twitter business pages during the first year of recreational sales in 2020. A quantitative content analysis was conducted to systematically analyze the data; a codebook that detailed a protocol for classifying posts was developed prior to the analysis using advertising regulations outlined in the Illinois Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act. Violations of advertising regulations were organized into three categories: advertisements that may be appealing to youth (< 21 years old), advertisements that make health claims, and other advertising violations. The data were analyzed cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Additionally, differences in compliance were assessed by dispensary and neighborhood characteristics. Results The results of the analysis revealed substantial and persistent non-compliance throughout the entire study period. Overall, nearly one third of posts had at least one violation and approximately one in ten posts met the criteria for appealing to youth or contained health claims. The majority of posts with health claims included health claims that were not qualifying conditions for medical cannabis access in the state of Illinois. No differences in compliance by neighborhood and dispensary characteristics were found. Conclusions The findings from this study suggest that systematic monitoring and enforcement is needed to ensure compliance with advertising regulations.

Associations between e-cigarette marketing exposure and vaping nicotine and cannabis among U.S. adults, 2021

“…Given the current federal illegal status of cannabis, there are no federallevel cannabis marketing policies, and state and local-level policies related to cannabis advertising restrictions vary significantly. [37][38][39] Further, compliance with such restrictions has been found to be low, 10,[40][41][42] and most restrictions do not apply to hemp-derived cannabis products which are rapidly gaining popularity. 43 The lack of effective marketing restrictions on cannabis products may explain our finding that e-cigarette marketing exposure through many channels was positively associated with sole-cannabis vaping.…”

“…In recent years, e-cigarette or vape products with nicotine, have become one of the most commonly used tobacco products in the U.S. The prevalence of past 30-day e-cigarette use with nicotine (or vaping nicotine) was 17.0% among middle and high school-aged youth in 2023 1 and 17.2% and 5.2% among young adults (ages [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] and midlife adults (ages [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50], respectively, in 2022. 2 During the same time, many states legalized non-medical (or recreational) cannabis retail, coinciding with increased vape product use with cannabis (often called vaping cannabis or vape pens).…”

The Impact of Recreational Cannabis Markets on Cannabis Use Among Adolescents and Adults: A Synthetic Control Analysis

“…Commercialization may be more likely to impact use through these channels; in the open, it may be easier for companies to innovate methods of production to reduce costs, develop new products that may be more appealing and addictive, and engage in marketing and advertising. Some studies have found cannabis marketing increases in intensity over time (Marinello, 2024) and contains content that may be appealing to youth (Cao et al, 2020;Marinello et al, 2024;Shi & Pacula, 2021).…”