Despite this limitation, participants reported their pre-pandemic cannabis use so that we were able to control for retrospective use. The current research is also limited to the initial period of the pandemic. Since restrictions have been variously lifted and re-implemented in response to COVID-19 case counts, it is important to examine longer term effects of the pandemic on cannabis used and the role of demand using a longitudinal model. Furthermore, the sample size for the current study is modest for testing the hypothesized path model. However, our large R2 effect sizes suggest that we captured strong predictors of cannabis motives and problems during COVID-19 in our study. Next, since the MPT is a measure of hypothetical consumption of cannabis, actual cannabis consumption is not measured by this task. However, previous research has provided evidence for the validity of hypothetical purchase tasks for other substances . Future research is needed to support the validity of the MPT. Moreover, the MPT instructional set refers to smoking “hits” of grow cannabis, which may impact its use among those whose primary form of cannabis use is vaping or consuming edibles.

Though the majority of the sample in the current study indicated that dried cannabis was their primary form of use, this presents a clear limitation to the ecological validity of the MPT. Recent qualitative research on the MPT has recommended against the use of the term “hits” in favor of “grams” and that the specific mode of cannabis administration be incorporated into future iterations of the MPT . A further potential limitation is that the study measures were administered online rather than in a laboratory context. This presents several drawbacks when administering the MPT, namely that the research team was not able to emphasize important parts of the instructions or answer questions; it is possible that participants’ performance was impacted in a negative way by these factors . Also, because our sample was drawn from a larger sample of Canadian drinkers it is possible that cannabis use motives in our sample may have differed systematically from those of cannabis-only users. Co-use of cannabis and alcohol is associated with elevated alcohol demand , so it is possible that co-use may also systematically impact both cannabis demand and motives for use.

Finally, we acknowledge that our sample had a rather high level of income . While household income was unrelated to cannabis use variables in this study, our findings may not generalize to samples with lower income. In conclusion, this study replicates a modest body of previous research linking indoor cannabis grow system demand to cannabis-related problems and provides evidence for the role of coping motives in the increased cannabis-related problems experienced by those with elevated cannabis demand. Further research is needed to replicate this research within a sample of cannabis-only users and in a real-world, offline setting.Substance use disorders  are a major public health issue in the United States ; in 2019, more than 2.5 million Americans died due to drug- or alcohol-related causes . Many adults who develop SUDs report initiating substance use during adolescence . Three substances — alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis — have particularly widespread use among adolescents . Polysubstance use, or the consumption of more than one substance simultaneously, is also common during the developmental period of adolescence. For example, 34% of adolescents reported using two or more substances from among alcohol, cigarettes, and cannabis prior to age 16 . In another study, 41.9% of adolescents  reported alcohol and marijuana co-use .

Several factors have been identified to be associated with increased risk of substance use and its severity among adolescents such as lower levels of parental monitoring, higher levels of parental substance use, family history of substance use, and lower levels of parental education . Initiating substance use at a younger age also contributes to more severe use later in life . Several studies have also explored risk factors that lead to co-use of substances by adolescents including individual, familial, and socio-demographic factors . Given the potential short- and long-term harms associated with hazardous substance use in adolescence, it is imperative to identify adolescents at high risk of developing hazardous substance use. Hazardous substance use is use of substances that increases the future risk or likelihood of health consequences; this does not include use that has already led to health consequences . A few tools are available for individual substance risk prediction. In particular, Hayatbakhsh et al.  developed a risk score for cannabis use and disorder in early adulthood based on early life risk factors.

For example, disengagement from negative emotion  predicts greater negative affect over time, and this association is amplified in youth from low SES backgrounds . Other recent work has similarly demonstrated that challenges regulating emotion have more negative consequences for those in low SES contexts  and may interact with other measures of subjective social inequality  in predicting cannabis use . Together, these studies indicate that stronger emotion regulation skills  have been associated with less depression for individuals from lower, but not higher, SES. In other words, the impact of emotion regulation skills appears to be differentially impactful in relation- ship to environmental context. Similarly, examinations of emotion regulation and cannabis use reflect that the association between stressful life events/perceived stress and cannabis use are especially elevated among individuals with less adept emotional regulation. At the same time,vertical grow rack important potential differences among racial groups remain understudied with some studies suggesting that the implications of using putatively maladaptive emotion regulation strategies may differ across racial and ethnic groups .

Indeed, within families, emotion socialization and learning emotion regulation is fundamentally linked with processes of racial socialization and helping pre- pare children for and manage emotions associated with experiences of discrimination . While we have some sense of the relationships between social inequality and neural responses related to emotion regulation, studies examining existing racial and ethnic health disparities in this arena remain scant, in part due to serious concerns about how results may be used to further marginalize communities and reinforce stereotypes given the historic mistreatment of these groups in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience . Studies that do exist have largely been driven by outside objective metrics  with the crucial omission of experienced subjective social inequality. We still know very little about the nature of the experience of that stress and how it inter- acts with brain mechanisms in their final stage of development or what the implications may be in high-stakes health contexts, such as cannabis grow racks use. The social inequality paradox is that in their efforts to navigate one serious set of stressful risk factors , EA may actually increase their likelihood of engaging in a number of other health risk behaviors, including cannabis use.

Not only are EA expected to face different profiles of subjective and objective social inequality, but they will also navigate those social inequality factors differently. Specific patterns of emotion regulation in this developmental period may serve to exacerbate or mitigate risk differentially based on the social inequality context. Longitudinal approaches can help clarify how dynamic cognition-emotion interplay prospectively predicts trajectories of negative emotional experiences and cannabis use in EA . Neural maturation may allow individuals to adaptively navigate one serious set of stressful risk factors  and may also predict escalation of other health risk factors. Studying these risk factors necessitates paradigms that dissect the multi-component nature of both emotion regulation  and social inequality.We suggest that another inadvertent aftermath of EA experiences of social inequality —increased negative affect —may trigger a series of negative health sequalae including escalation of cannabis use during and following experienced subjective and objective social inequality. Understanding the dynamic developmental nature of these associations will require novel designs that combine longitudinal approaches with intensive measurement techniques that can capture both the day-to-day fluctuations and chronic effects of social inequality and substance use. Not all experiences are equal. Even EA who share experiences of inequality or similar challenges in emotion regulation may not experience similar outcomes some will experience stable or worsening problems while others will transition towards resilience and recovery. In some contexts, such as for individuals in high subjective and objective inequality contexts, differences in emotion regulation and the associated underlying neural response may be more salient predictors of outcome than in other con- texts.

Other recent work has similarly demonstrated that challenges regulating emotion have more negative consequences for those in low SES contexts and may interact with other measures of subjective social inequality in predicting cannabis use . Together, these studies indicate that stronger emotion regulation skills  have been associated with less depression for individuals from lower, but not higher, SES. In other words, the impact of emotion regulation skills appears to be differentially impactful in relation- ship to environmental context. Similarly, examinations of emotion regulation and cannabis use reflect that the association between stressful life events/perceived stress and grow lights for cannabis use are especially elevated among individuals with less adept emotional regulation. At the same time, important potential differences among racial groups remain understudied with some studies suggesting that the implications of using putatively maladaptive emotion regulation strategies may differ across racial and ethnic groups . Indeed, within families, emotion socialization and learning emotion regulation is fundamentally linked with processes of racial socialization and helping pre- pare children for and manage emotions associated with experiences of discrimination .

While we have some sense of the relationships between social inequality and neural responses related to emotion regulation, studies examining existing racial and ethnic health disparities in this arena remain scant, in part due to serious concerns about how results may be used to further marginalize communities and reinforce stereotypes given the historic mistreatment of these groups in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience . Studies that do exist have largely been driven by outside objective metrics  with the crucial omission of experienced subjective social inequality. We still know very little about the nature of the experience of that stress and how it inter- acts with brain mechanisms in their final stage of development or what the implications may be in high-stakes health contexts, such as cannabis use. The social inequality paradox is that in their efforts to navigate one serious set of stressful risk factors , EA may actually increase their likelihood of engaging in a number of other health risk behaviors, grow cannabis including cannabis use. Not only are EA expected to face different profiles of subjective and objective social inequality, but they will also navigate those social inequality factors differently.

Specific patterns of emotion regulation in this developmental period may serve to exacerbate or mitigate risk differentially based on the social inequality context. Longitudinal approaches can help clarify how dynamic cognition-emotion interplay prospectively predicts trajectories of negative emotional experiences and cannabis use in EA . Neural maturation may allow individuals to adaptively navigate one serious set of stressful risk factors  and may also predict escalation of other health risk factors. Studying these risk factors necessitates paradigms that dissect the multi-component nature of both emotion regulation  and social inequality.We suggest that another inadvertent aftermath of EA experiences of social inequality —increased negative affect —may trigger a series of negative health sequalae including escalation of cannabis use during and following experienced subjective and objective social inequality. Understanding the dynamic developmental nature of these associations will require novel designs that combine longitudinal approaches with intensive measurement techniques that can capture both the day-to-day fluctuations and chronic effects of social inequality and substance use. Not all experiences are equal.

There also exists a substantial amount of cross-disciplinary research that suggests the quality of life of a cancer patient,whether receiving treatment or not, can be improved with the use of medicinal cannabis .All content was educational in nature with a balanced approach, including positive and negative aspects of medical cannabis. Each video clearly stated that no recommendation for medicinal cannabis was being made and anybody considering its use should seek the advice of a medical professional for any diagnosing, dosage, or administration specifics. To accurately gauge the attitudes of participants in this study, the Recreational and Medical Cannabis Attitudes Scales published by Arora et al.  was utilized. This scale accurately determines the attitudes of participants regarding recreational cannabis and medicinal cannabis,separately. Both components that comprise the scale are reported to be reliable, with the Medical Cannabis Attitudes Scale reporting a reliability coefficient of 0.86, and the Recreational Cannabis Attitudes Scale reporting a reliability coefficient of 0.91.

Each component of the scale was designed to measure different aspects that may inform attitudes: questions were targeted at measuring social beliefs, current legal restraints, past beliefs, vertical grow rack and perceived future risk.For this current study, only the MCAS was implemented, but modified to remove the one question that measured older participants’ past views on medical cannabis when they were younger: “When I was 18, I believed that using marijuana for a medical purpose was acceptable.” This question was omitted from the analysis because the researchers designed the survey to not display this question to anyone under the age of 35 out of concern it would be perceived as confusing given younger participants’ relative closeness in age to 18. Omitting this question from the analysis left five questions remaining for all participants so that a standard MCAS score could be used regardless of age. Using a five-point Likert scale, with appropriate questions reverse-coded so that a higher score reflected positive attitudes, a total score range of five to 25 was possible.Additionally, two patient scenarios were devised to measure real-world beliefs of medicinal cannabis use with a practical application.

In the first of the two, an individual was presented as having military related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder . The patient had not sought the advice of a medical professional and had not tried prescription medication but had success with medical cannabis after the recommendation from a friend. The second scenario detailed an individual who was suffering from chronic pain due to a car accident. The patient had tried opioid therapy and was unable to tolerate the side effects, relief from the patient’s chronic pain was found after trying medical cannabis.After reading the scenarios, participants were asked to indicate their level of agreement that the patient should have access to medical cannabis for their respective ailments using a five-point Likert scale. Most participants were supportive of the patients in both scenarios having access to medical cannabis: 79.3% and 75.7% of participants selected“ strongly agree” that the patients should have access for the PTSD and chronic pain patients, respectively, cannabis grow racks at baseline. After viewing the educational lectures, the proportion of participants selecting “strongly agree” increased to 85.6% and 82.9%, respectively. The change in support for access to medical cannabis increased significantly for both patient scenarios as a whole after participants viewed the educational lectures .

The change was also significant for the individual scenarios:PTSD  and chronic pain scenario . The results of this study support the use of formal education as a means of changing attitudes toward medical cannabis. Education, thus, will likely help reduce stigma that many medical cannabis patients have experienced. Utilizing public health resources and existing relevant medical cannabis health policy, an established plan to educate the public more effectively can be developed, therefore reducing future stigma, and increasing patients’ access to care.The health policy in the United States has shifted from the War on Drugs perspective toward a more medical one over the last three decades, as it relates to cannabis. California was the first state to see medical cannabis legalized in 1996, and as of August 2021, thirty-five states have followed the path set by California in legalizing cannabis medically. This relatively rapid increase in acceptance of medical cannabis can be connected to the impact that the media has had in influencing the public. Attitudes toward cannabis in both television and print media had a significant, positive relationship toward the legalization of cannabis from the period of1991–2012 .

Individuals can have THC detected in their blood or saliva without experiencing any psychotropic effects or exhibiting impairments. Following the use of cannabis, THC and its metabolites can be detected for long periods of time in plasma and urine, ranging from approximately 7 days for occasional users  and up to 30 days for frequent users . The extent to which the behavioural impairments of cannabis use are present depends on a variety of drug- and user-related factors due to the bidirectional and biphasic nature of the drug . These considerations include route of administration, dosage of THC, titration of dose, user tolerance, user intake frequency, environment of administration, and cannabinoid absorption, metabolism, and excretion rates . The current state of enforcement in Canada for roadside testing of cannabis-induced impairment includes the use of Standardized Field Sobriety Tests  and handheld drug screening devices that can detect the presence of cannabis in saliva. While the SFST has been well-validated for impairment due to alcohol, they have been shown to have little sensitivity to impairment from grow lights for cannabis .

If the SFST or handheld saliva device results indicate potential impairment, the administrating officer could demand a qualitative evaluation by a drug recognition evaluator and potentially a blood test at a police station to justify a charge of impaired driving. However, as discussed above, blood THC levels do not directly correlate with levels of behavioural impairment as manifested in driving performance deficits. In essence, measuring THC levels at roadside does not allow comprehensive conclusions to be drawn regarding cannabis-related impairment, thus alternative measures are needed. Much of the previous research examining the link between cannabis use and driving safety consists of epidemiological and observational studies . Reviews of these studies have consistently shown an increased crash risk for drivers who were under the influence of cannabis compared to drivers who had not consumed cannabis , with indications that driving after cannabis consumption is twice as likely as sober driving to result in a collision . However, these studies have several limitations including potentially compromised data validity such as inaccurate blood THC levels reported due to delays between the time of crash and the time of driver blood toxicology analysis and information bias, such as drug presence presumptuously assumed to result in drug impairment .

Another way to determine whether associations and/or causal relationships are observed between grow cannabis use and driving performance is to investigate this link experimentally within controlled settings, including using driving simulators. Simulators are an attractive proxy for the real-world operation of vehicles, as many of the practical, ethical, and safety issues involved with testing human operators under the influence of drugs in the real world are avoided . Sophisticated simulation technology also provides the ability to reproduce conditions in a controlled environment, capture precise measurements of quantitative variables, receive real-time qualitative assessment from trained evaluators, and design targeted test scenarios and conditions, including challenging driving situations. Compared to real world, on-road driving assessments, simulators allow for the safe testing of driving performance without requiring impaired individuals to join live traffic and potentially endanger themselves and others. Simulators ensure that all participants experience the same driving scenario without introducing a wide range of conditions that differ across individuals, such as differences in traffic, road structure, or environmental conditions.

Several previous driving simulation studies have demonstrated associations between cannabis use and changes to driving performance . For instance, it has been shown that poorer lane-keeping, slower reaction times, and slower driving speeds are observed following THC consumption  relative to pre-consumption. These effects on driving performance measures have also been shown to increase in a dose-dependent manner . However, reduced speed and minor within-lane weaving in a generic scenario representing common, everyday driving is not necessarily indicative of performance impairments that compromise driving safety across the wide range of common and challenging situations drivers face in everyday settings. This is likely due to the use of preconfigured scenarios, not customized to this specific research question. To our knowledge, there have been no formally described approaches to provide guidance on how to construct customized driving simulation scenarios that strategically test abilities shown to be affected by cannabis.

Our study provides the first estimates of characteristics associated with different modes of preconception cannabis administration. Results suggest that mode of administration may be a proxy for socioeconomic status, with smoking and blunt use being more common among populations who face more structural disadvantages  and use of edibles and vaping being more common among those who face fewer structural disadvantages . Future qualitative studies are needed to investigate how price, social, cultural and demographic factors influence individuals’ choices about how to administer cannabis, reasons for use, and understanding of health risks. Individuals tend to develop their substance use patterns prior to pregnancy, and preconception use of cannabis is among the strongest predictors of prenatal cannabis use . Although the psychoactive effects, health risks, and timing and duration of peak effects vary with mode of cannabis administration , it is unknown whether the likelihood of quitting cannabis use prior to pregnancy,mobile grow system or the potential adverse health effects to infants exposed to cannabis in utero vary depending on maternal mode or combinations of modes of cannabis administration.

These questions warrant further investigation. As the diversity of products on the market continues to increase, surveillance of how individuals administer cannabis before and during pregnancy will be critical to inform clinical guidance, public policy and prevention and intervention strategies across diverse populations for reducing harms associated with cannabis use.  On October 17, 2018, Canada became the second country in the world to legalize non-medical cannabis . Briefly, the Cannabis Act permits adults aged 18 and over to purchase cannabis, cultivate up to four plants, and possess up to 30 g of dried flower  in public . Canadians can access legal non-medical cannabis through physical and online retail stores, sharing small amounts among friends and family, or growing personal cannabis plants . Prior to the legalization of non-medical cannabis in 2018, home cultivation was permitted for consumers with medical authorization under certain conditions . Those with medical authorization were permitted to grow their own cannabis; or designate someone to grow cannabis on their behalf . In October 2018; immediately prior to legalization of non-medical cannabis, less than 1% of Canadians were registered with Health Canada for medical cannabis and 7.5% of Canadians with medical authorization had an active registration to grow or designate someone to grow on their behalf .

In October 2020; approximately two years after non-medical legalization, this percentage had risen to 11.3% . Under the Cannabis Act, unchanged from the preceding “Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes” regulations, the number of plants grown for medical consumption is determined by the daily quantity of cannabis outlined in the patient’s medical authorization . In general, for every gram of dried flower authorized, five plants are permitted indoors or two outdoors . For instance, if the patient is authorized two grams of dried flower per day, ten plants would be permitted indoors. Therefore, Canadians growing for medical purposes may have higher limits of the number of plants grown than Canadians growing for non-medical purposes. Moreover, provinces and territories have jurisdiction on retail sales and distribution, including prohibiting home cultivation, and so regulations vary across the country . For example, Manitoba and Quebec prohibit home cultivation of non-medical cannabis grow supplies, whereas all other provinces allow up to four plants . In a legal market, allowing residents to grow their own cannabis at home provides a relatively low-cost source of cannabis for those who prefer not to purchase from retail stores or pay taxes, to have more control over cannabis strains, or for those growing for enjoyment . Indeed, home cultivation could support the objectives of the Cannabis Act, if those growing a personal supply are doing so instead of sourcing illegally .

Conversely, home cultivation has the potential to undermine objectives of the Cannabis Act, which include reducing the illegal market and prevent underage consumption . Home cultivation could provide easier access to children in the home, allow opportunity for illegal resale, and avoid the strict regulations that were created to protect public health . Further research is needed on home cultivation in Canada since legalization, including who grows their own cannabis plants. When compared to other supply sources such as friends and family or retail stores, home cultivation rates have been found to be comparably modest, both before and after legalization . In the National Cannabis Survey; 8.0% of past three-month cannabis consumers reported getting their cannabis by growing their own or someone growing it for them before legalization in the first quarter of 2018 .

A. meyeri did not present in any group except the orally inoculated A. meyeri group. Furthermore, N. elongata presented in the stool samples from some mice after oral inoculation, but was not significantly elevated compared to the controls; elevation of A. meyeri instool after oral inoculation was extremely limited . These results indicate that A. meyeri may not be an oral commensal bacteriumin B6 mice, but it can colonize well on the surface of the oralcavity during oral inoculation. Long-term cannabis users may suffer disturbed brain connectivity,cognitive impairment, and psychological disorders , but the exactme chanisms are not fully understood. In the current study, we found that chronic cannabis use correlated with alterations of several taxa of the oral microbiome. A. meyeri was highly enriched in the saliva from chronic cannabis smokers compared to those of non-smokers,and oral enrichment of A. meyeri was associated with the age of first cannabis use. We further investigated if direct administration of this bacterium, in the absence of cannabis or the psychoactive THC component,could elicit alteration in the brain-immune axis in a mouse model. Long-term oral inoculation of A. meyeri bacteriumto mice resulted in behavioral changes, macrophage infiltration into the brain, and increased Ab 42 protein production in the brain.

Oral flora plays a role in maintaining oral health; however, environmental changes can result in dysbiosis vertical grow rack. Prior results have shown tobacco smoking alter the oral microbiome . Decreased abundance of Neisseria and Capnocytophaga and increased abundance of Streptococcus were found in tobacco smokers compared with those of non-smokers . Consistent with these findings, here wefound that the abundance of Neisseria, Capnocytophaga, and Cardiobacteriumgenera was reduced and the abundance of Streptococcus was increased in cannabis smokers compared to non-smokers. In contrast, cannabis use was associated with increases in the genera,Actinomyces, Atopobium, Megasphaera, and Veillonella. A previous study demonstrated a strikingly similarity in the physical and chemical properties produced by cannabis and tobacco smoking, which contained large amounts of hydrocarbon and changed the acidity of saliva . Thus, Streptococcus and Actinomyces, acid-tolerant and facultative anaerobes, may preferentially grow in a smoking-mediated environment. In contrast, bacteria such as Neisseria sp. and Corynebacteriumsp. were decreased in cannabis smokers, suggesting that smoking renders an unfavorable environment to facultative or strictanaerobes.

Although some oral microbiome is shared between tobacco smokers  and cannabis smokers, including increased Streptococcus and decreased Neisseria genus bacteria compared to non-smokers, A. meyeri was only increased in cannabis smokers.Moreover, the younger the age of first cannabis use, the more A.meyeri was orally enriched.Although the gut microbiome has been shown to play a crucialrole in the CNS activities via the bidirectional gut-brain axis ,strong connections between the oral microbiome and the CNS havebeen reported as well. P. gingivalis, a key pathogen in chronic periodontitis was identified to contribute to Alzheimer’s disease .Besides P. gingivalis, other oral resident microbes were shown to associate with neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease . Moreover, oral bacteria Treponema and N. meningitidis can infect the brain through the trigeminal or olfactory nerve cannabis grow racks. The perturbations of intestinal microbiota resulted in the impairment of memory formation and cognition in the hippocampus . To test the effect of cannabis use-associated oral dysbiosis on CNS functions, we performed various behavioral tests in mice following bacteria oral inoculations but did not observe significant memory changes.

Some Actinomyces species are commensal bacteria in the skin, oral, gut, and vagina of humans , but can also become opportunistic pathogens leading to infections in the dental cavity and other systemic sites . A. meyeri is associated with brain infection or dysfunction , but the causality and mechanisms of A. meyeri-mediated CNS dysfunction have never been reported. In this study, A. meyeri enrichment in the oral microbiome was inversely correlated with the age of first cannabis use, which indicates that the longer duration of cannabis exposure, the more enrichment of A.meyeri in the oral cavity. A previous study found younger age of first cannabis use was associated with decreased orbital prefrontal cortex volume . Another study found negative correlations between the age of initiation of cannabis use and altered thickness of the right superior frontal gyrus . Our study implies that the age of first cannabis use may be critical for particular oral microbiome development and its potential impact on cognitive function.

Given that one of the larger concerns surrounding EVP use is nicotine intake, presenting groups that vape nicotine in various ways with and without cannabis may shed light on profiles of adults who are at higher risk for downstream health consequences associated with vaping both substances. Another concern involves the health implications for adults who indicate that they vape non-nicotine/non-cannabis e-liquid, warranting further investigation into this group.Nicotine alters normal brain development in adolescents and young adults, possibly impairing cognitive development and long-term functioning.  Cannabis use is linked to adverse health outcomes including impaired short-term memory and attention, and risk for cannabis dependence. To combat adolescent and young adult tobacco and cannabis use, health communication campaigns have been deployed in the past; however, their success in preventing use of these substances has varied.  Health communication strategists have turned to social media platforms to promote campaign ads,  target their intended audience  with tailored messages,  and track ad performance in real-time.  However, cannabis grow set up each social media platform offers unique user experiences and audience engagement with ads vary across platforms even for identical messages.

As such, characterizing platform-specific health communication strategies could be vital to enhance ad performance. For example, the United States Food and Drug Agency , Center for Tobacco Products  is charged with ‘identifying effective messages, message components and communication channels to prevent initiation and countering uptake of ENDS by youth’ and Snapchat provides one such communication channel to evaluate effective messages. . Snapchat is a popular platform among adolescents and young adults in the U.S. The platform allows its users to post ephemeral “snaps”  to their followers. While advertisers have taken advantage of Snapchat’s younger audience through targeted ads , and real-time metrics that track ad impressions, there has been no research on the content of tobacco and cannabis-related ads on the platform. This study used a publicly available library of ads from Snapchat in 2019, with the objective of content-analyzing tobacco and cannabis-related ads targeted towards two age-groups: adolescents  and young adults . By documenting themes, performance , and type of sponsoring organization , this study will inform future social media health education campaigns. This study characterized tobacco and cannabis-related ads targeted towards adolescents and young adults on Snapchat.

Health Consequences was a common theme among tobacco ads followed by Quitting and Industry Tactics. Health Consequences was a predominant theme among cannabis ads followed by Policy Advocacy and Financial and Legal Consequences.Government organizations sponsored none of the tobacco-related ads targeted at adolescents and none of the cannabis-related ads targeted at adolescents were sponsored by advocacy organizations, outdoor cannabis grow which may indicate future priority age groups for health education campaigns sponsored by these organizations. Insights from this study add to the growing literature documenting characteristics of tobacco and cannabis ads appearing on social media platforms. While this study found that Health Consequences and Quitting were predominant themes for tobacco-related ads, prior research, investigating tobacco-related ads on Facebook and Instagram, found that tobacco regulations, addiction, and flavors were common themes.  Additionally, this study used objective ad metrics such as Ad Impressions and Ad Spend, overcoming limitations from instrument and recall bias that were present in prior ad evaluations. 

Collectively, these studies demonstrate that data from publicly available social media ad libraries can be used to provide an understanding of ad performance and cost by theme and inform tobacco and cannabis use prevention strategies. For example, the US FDA Center for Tobacco Products could use evidence-based narrative health communication strategies to develop snaps  offering a meaningful narrative that could be a part of a series of other similar snaps in a campaign. For example, snaps could include narration of individuals’ personal experience with smoking and resulting health effects Similarly, nonprofit public health organizations can create health education campaigns that include snaps of adolescents sharing their experience with vape cessation support offered by these organizations. Campaigns supported federal agencies or advocacy organizations could also evaluate their campaign’s reach using similar methods described in this study. Tobacco and cannabis-related ads on Snapchat received impressions in the millions.

The last section highlights the scarcity of information in regard to the Iberian Peninsula, in comparison with most European regions, evaluates the potential causes for this paucity and suggests how further research could contribute to bridging this knowledge gap. Time units used: Ma, million years before present; yr BP, years before present; CE/ BCE, Common Era/Before Common Era. Cannabis sativa is a sun-loving  species that requires well-drained and nitrogen-rich soils, warmth and moisture. Therefore, most natural populations are found seasonally across accommodating northern temperate latitudes. This plant grows well along exposed riverbanks, lakesides, margins of agricultural lands and other areas disturbed by humans. Cannabis plants are annual and usually diecious,cannabis grow tray as determined by X and Y chromosomes, and anemophylous . The annual cycle extends from spring  to summer  and autumn . Male plants, which are slightly taller than female plants, die shortly before pollination. Female plants ripen viable seeds just before the arrival of winter killing frosts. Seed dissemination is carried out mostly by wind or feeding birds.

During germination, seeds are surrounded by bracts with hairs that produce a resinous blend of cannabinoids and aromatic compounds as secondary metabolites, which are believed to protect seeds against pests and pathogens. Cannabinols may be psychoactive  or not psychoactive  for humans . Early attempts to identify the place of origin of wild Cannabis prior to human contact were based on the geographic distribution of its wild, cultivated and ruderal populations, combined with the known ecological requirements and reproductive strategies. However, the distribution of this plant and its biotypes/varieties is closely associated with human settlements and trade routes, and therefore, the original native range is obscured . In spite of this, a broad area referred to as central Asia  was proposed as the center of origin of Cannabis . Another, less generally accepted, possibility mentioned was south Asia . Regarding timing, accepting that the central Asian steppes were colonized by humans by 35,000 years ago , it has been assumed that wild Cannabis could have originated earlier. These hypotheses, however, were based on circumstantial evidence, and robust empirical evidence was lacking. This empirical evidence was provided by the fossil record and the use of time-calibrated molecular DNA phylogenies.

The macrofossil record of Cannabis is relatively scarce and consists of only a few leaf and fruit/seed impressions with ages ranging between the Oligocene and the late Miocene . However, microfossils, vertical grow systems for sale specifically pollen, are abundant and widespread and have commonly been utilized to reliably reconstruct the history of Cannabis. Nevertheless, the identification of Cannabis pollen deserves special attention because of its similarity with other members of the family Cannabaceae, especially Humulus , a sister genus that bears contrasting ecological requirements and cultural connotations. Therefore, inaccurate identification might lead to erroneous conclusions . This is why different authors have used broader taxonomic categories for this pollen type, such as Cannabis-type, Cannabis/Humulus or Cannabaceae. In addition, it is unclear whether pollen from wild and cultivated Cannabis may be distinguished morphologically.Godwin  emphasized several differential characteristics of the pore complex. Further statistical studies revealed that Cannabis pollen is generally larger than Humulus, but this character alone was not sufficient to allow reliable separation . Pollen size also seems to be an unreliable parameter to separate wild from cultivated Cannabis .

The combination of pore complexes and size seems to provide a more reliable, yet not universally accepted, identification criterion to differentiate between Cannabis and Humulus pollen . However, even in the case of conclusive Cannabis pollen identifications, comparisons with studies referring to this pollen type as Cannabis-type, Cannabis/Humulus or Cannabaceae remain problematic, which may be a handicap for the development of meta-analyses aimed at reconstructing past biogeographic and cultural patterns. Recently, some meta-analyses have been conducted using different criteria, such as considering the entire Cannabis/Humulus complex or taking into account only those studies that explicitly identified Cannabis pollen . These approaches tend to overestimate or underestimate the actual pollen record of Cannabis. A different approach, called here the assemblage approach, has recently been proposed by McPartland et al. . These authors noted that wild C. sativa is typical of open temperate steppe habitats dominated by grasses, chenopods and Artemisia, whereas Humulus is a vine plant that requires trees to climb and is common in temperate deciduous forests dominated by alder , willow  and poplar .

As yet, there is insufficient evidence as to which of these mechanisms underlie the loss of eCB/CB1-mediated plasticity following chronic THC or agonist exposure. Chronic exposure to THC and CB1 receptor agonists impairs synaptic LTD at glutamatergic synapses in the dorsal and ventral striatum, areas of the brain important for eCB-mediated habitual actions and reward processing, respectively. The NAc/ ventral striatum integrates incoming sensory inputs to modulate cortical activity to influence drug seeking behavior. In fact, drug-induced impairments in LTD have been implicated in compulsive drug seeking and/ or taking behavior . Not surprisingly, operant self-administration of THC and CBD inhibits the induction of LTD at cortical inputs to NAc , again, bolstering the argument that cannabinoid reward-driven signaling, resulting in voluntary drug seeking/taking behavior is mediated by the inhibition of glutamatergic signaling at these synapses. Little is known about the effects of CBD alone on long-term changes in synaptic plasticity. However, CBD is hypothesized to reduce the aversive effects of THC . It is likely that CBD may exert its long-term effects on plasticity at non-CB1/CB2 receptors, given its low affinity for these receptors .

The loss of NAc LTD is accompanied by the desensitization of CB1 receptors following chronic THC and cannabinoid exposure indoor grow table. Differential changes in the signaling strength of these inputs may contribute to the reinforcing properties of cannabinoid drugs and the regulation of behavior. Alterations in dendritic spine density and morphology in NAc medium spiny neurons occur following chronic exposure to THC . Moreover, loss of LTD is observed at synapses originating from the medial prefrontal cortex  and ventral hippocampus. Interestingly, chronic THC exposure during adolescence inhibits LTD induction in the mPFC, which is reversed by enhancing AEA levels . Collectively, these results support the idea that cannabinoids alter CB1 receptor-mediated synaptic modulation to facilitate the reinforcing effects of these drugs and promote tolerance and dependence. Interestingly, chronic THC exposure results in synapse-specific LTD impairments in the NAc, in which LTD at mPFC and vHipp synapses, and not LTD at synapses originating from the basolateral amygdala  are affected . These results suggest that THC-induced synaptic modifications may have very different effects on striatal output, depending on the MSN synapses affected.

However, more research is needed to identify whether the induction of LTD at synapses onto different MSN subtypes, indirect- and direct-projecting, are affected. In addition to these presynaptic changes, there is a postsynaptic strengthening of the BLA and vHipp inputs, and the weakening of inputs from mPFC . These changes in presynaptic and postsynaptic mechanisms of glutamatergic signaling highlight the importance of the synaptic balance among these brain regions to guide behavior. After prolonged exposure to THC, there is a shift from cortical regions involved in cognitive processes to subcortical regions, which are involved in memory and emotional processes to promote drug seeking and dependence . Additionally, it may be this dysregulation in synaptic transmission that contributes to the cannabinoid-induced deficits associated with memory formation. Loss of LTD in dorsolateral striatum  following chronic THC exposure appears to contribute to development of habitual instrumental behavior . The loss of this presynaptic modulation may lead to increased efficacy of inputs from sensorimotor cortical regions that drives DLS and the associated basal ganglia circuitry supporting stimulus/context-driven behavior that overrides goal-direct actions.

Synaptic depression mediated by eCBs and CB1 also plays a role in habitual behavior through suppression of orbitofrontal cortical inputs to dorsomedial striatum . In this case, rolling grow table the eCB-mediated synaptic modulation suppresses cortical input that drives goal-directed behavior, favoring habitual responding. It has yet to be determined how chronic exposure to THC or other CB1 agonists alters this dorsal striatal eCB role. Functional cannabinoid tolerance also occurs at excitatory and inhibitory synapses in the hippocampus.However, these receptors are more abundantly expressed on GABAergic rather than glutamatergic terminals . Modifications at these synapses are likely to contribute to the long-lasting cannabinoid-induced deficits in memory and cognition. Chronic exposure to THC blocks LTP at glutamatergic synapses in the dentate gyrus and CA1 regions of the hippocampus via a CB1 receptor-mediated mechanism . Similar impairments in hippocampal CA1 LTP are observed in vivo with repeated exposure to HU-210, a CB1 receptor full agonist . Moreover, these impairments are associated with deficits in working memory. It is likely that reduction in glutamate receptor expression and function contributes to the impairments in hippocampal synaptic plasticity .