“It Takes Longer, but When It Hits You It Hits You!”: Videos About Marijuana Edibles on YouTube

ABSTRACT

Background: Interest in marijuana edibles has increased as perceptions of harm from marijuana have decreased. Media and peer influences impact youth substance use, and YouTube is the most popular video-sharing website. No studies have examined the content and accessibility of YouTube videos related to marijuana edibles. Objectives: To describe the messages conveyed to viewers in YouTube videos about edibles and determine their accessibility to youth. Methods: On June 12, 2015, we searched YouTube for videos about marijuana/cannabis/weed edibles. A total of 51 videos were coded for presence of an age restriction, purpose(s) of the videos, consumption of edibles during the video, effects, and safety concerns. Results: Total views across all 51 videos were >9 million. Only 14% (7/51) were restricted to viewers over the age of 18 years. Over half (27/51, 53%) were informative videos, most (20/27, 74%) teaching how to make edibles, and 37% (19/51) were entertaining videos. Someone consumed an edible in 31% (16/51) of the videos, and the type of high was mentioned in 51% (26/51) of the videos, including delayed (18/26, 69%) or intense high (13/26, 50%). Fifty-five percent (28/51) mentioned delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol potency or dosage. Only 10 of these (36%) presented this information specifically as a warning to prevent adverse effects. Conclusions/Importance: Edibles-related videos are easily found on YouTube, often instructing how to bake your own edibles and lacking information needed for safe consumption, and most are not age-restricted. Videos showing how to make edibles or presenting edibles use in an entertaining way that could influence youth to initiate use.

KEYWORDS:

• Marijuana
• edibles
• social media
• content analysis
• YouTube

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Funding

This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grant numbers R01 DA039455, R01 DA032843, and UL1TR000448). The funder had no involvement in the study design; the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data; the writing of the report; or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.