Malouff John M, Schutte-Malouff Ben P
University of New England School of Psychology, Armidale, NSW, 2351, Australia.
University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
J Cannabis Res. 2020 Jul 29;2(1):22. doi: 10.1186/s42238-020-00029-x.
Frequent cannabis use can pose risks to health and safety. Multiple governments have legalized the sale of cannabis for recreational use and mandated health and safety warnings for recreational cannabis packages or signs at sales locations. The purposes of this study were to identify common themes across warnings and to compare the actual warnings with those previously recommended by cannabis experts and cannabis users.
We searched Google and Google Scholar for online lists of governments that allow or will soon allow the sale of cannabis for recreational use. Using the online lists we found, we searched for laws mandating the warnings, using the search terms "mandated warnings for recreational use marijuana" in addition to the name of the jurisdiction under review. We evaluated the content of the warnings and compared them with warnings recommended by cannabis experts and by users of recreational cannabis.
Each search led to millions of results. Within the top results of each of the searches there were website links to official legislative websites, databases and documents of the jurisdiction under review. We used these official documents. The search revealed that 11 U.S. states and two countries allow the recreational use of cannabis and that 10 U.S. states and Canada mandate warnings on legally sold recreational cannabis. The mandated warnings can be categorized as focusing on one of nine risks: (1) negative health effects on the user, (2) harm to children or fetuses, (3) risks related to driving or operating machinery, (4) risks of habit formation leading to over-use, (5) risks relating to over-use on a single occasion, especially with regard to edible cannabis, (6) developmental risks for young people, (7) harm caused by secondary smoke, (8) risks of effects lasting several hours, and (9) risks specific to using cannabis topicals. The warnings include no graphic images and no phone number to call for help quitting.
The warnings, as a group, parallel most warnings recommended by cannabis experts and a sample of recreational users of cannabis. The effects of the warnings are unknown, but prior research findings on warnings for cannabis and for other substances suggest potential for positive effects in raising awareness of risks and decreasing the risks. The warnings could be used in public health campaigns. Public health professionals may find it possible through research to help improve the warnings, either in presentation or in content. Cannabis researchers can use the list to identify additional risks suitable for inclusion in mandated warnings.
频繁使用大麻会对健康和安全构成风险。多个政府已将大麻用于娱乐用途的销售合法化，并要求在娱乐用大麻包装或销售地点设置健康和安全警示标识。本研究的目的是确定警示标识中的共同主题，并将实际警示与大麻专家和大麻使用者先前推荐的警示进行比较。
我们在谷歌和谷歌学术上搜索了允许或即将允许大麻用于娱乐用途销售的政府在线列表。利用我们找到的在线列表，除了正在审查的司法管辖区名称外，我们还使用“娱乐用大麻强制警示”等搜索词搜索了强制要求这些警示的法律。我们评估了警示内容，并将其与大麻专家和娱乐用大麻使用者推荐的警示进行比较。
每次搜索都产生了数百万条结果。在每次搜索的顶部结果中，都有指向正在审查的司法管辖区官方立法网站、数据库和文件的网站链接。我们使用了这些官方文件。搜索结果显示，美国11个州和两个国家允许娱乐用大麻，美国10个州和加拿大要求对合法销售的娱乐用大麻设置警示。强制要求的警示可分为关注九种风险之一：（1）对使用者的负面健康影响；（2）对儿童或胎儿的伤害；（3）与驾驶或操作机械相关的风险；（4）导致过度使用的成瘾风险；（5）单次过度使用的风险，尤其是对于食用大麻而言；（6）年轻人的发育风险；（7）二手烟造成的危害；（8）持续数小时的影响风险；（9）使用大麻外用制剂的特定风险。这些警示中没有图片，也没有提供戒烟求助电话号码。
作为一个整体，这些警示与大麻专家和一部分娱乐用大麻使用者推荐的大多数警示相似。这些警示的效果尚不清楚，但先前关于大麻及其他物质警示的研究结果表明，它们在提高风险意识和降低风险方面可能具有积极作用。这些警示可用于公共卫生宣传活动。公共卫生专业人员可能通过研究发现，有可能在展示方式或内容方面帮助改进这些警示。大麻研究人员可以利用该列表确定适合纳入强制要求警示的其他风险
