Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, Faculty of Health Sciences, Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery, McMaster University, Room 2112, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada.
Harm Reduct J. 2022 Dec 12;19(1):138. doi: 10.1186/s12954-022-00691-9.
Cannabis is used by millions of people for both medical and recreational purposes, and this use is even greater in jurisdictions where it is legalized, such as Canada. Online cannabis vendors have gained popularity for purchasing cannabis due to easy access and convenience to consumers. The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of health information provided by web sites of cannabis vendors selling products to Canadian consumers and to further identify trends in the information provided.
Six different searches were conducted on Google.ca, and the first 40 webpages of each search were screened for eligibility. A total of 33 unique web sites of cannabis vendors selling products to Canadian consumers were identified and included. The DISCERN instrument, which consists of 16 questions divided into three sections, was used to evaluate the quality of cannabis-related health information on these web sites.
Across the 33 web sites, the average of the summed DISCERN scores was 36.83 (SD = 9.73) out of 75, and the mean score for the overall quality of the publication (DISCERN question 16) was 2.41 (SD = 0.71) out of 5. Many of these web sites failed to discuss uncertainties in research evidence on cannabis, the impact of cannabis use on quality of life, alternatives to cannabis use, risks associated with cannabis use, and lacked references to support claims on effects and benefits of use.
Our findings indicate that the quality of cannabis-related health information provided by online vendors is poor. Healthcare providers should be aware that patients may use these web sites as primary sources of information and appropriately caution patients while directing them to high-quality sources. Future research should serve to replicate this study in other jurisdictions and assess the accuracy of information provided by online cannabis vendors, as this was outside the scope of the DISCERN instrument.
大麻被数百万人用于医疗和娱乐目的，在合法化的司法管辖区，如加拿大，其使用量更大。在线大麻供应商因其易于消费者获取和方便而受到欢迎，从而购买大麻。本研究的目的是评估向加拿大消费者销售产品的大麻供应商网站提供的健康信息的质量，并进一步确定所提供信息的趋势。
在 Google.ca 上进行了六次不同的搜索，对每个搜索的前 40 个网页进行了筛选，以确定其是否符合条件。共确定了 33 个向加拿大消费者销售产品的大麻供应商的独特网站，并将其包括在内。使用 DISCERN 工具（由 16 个问题组成，分为三个部分）评估这些网站上与大麻相关的健康信息的质量。
在 33 个网站中，DISCERN 总分的平均值为 75 分中的 36.83 分（SD=9.73），总体出版质量（DISCERN 问题 16）的平均得分为 5 分中的 2.41 分（SD=0.71）。许多这些网站未能讨论大麻研究证据中的不确定性、大麻使用对生活质量的影响、替代大麻使用的方法、与大麻使用相关的风险，并且缺乏支持使用效果和益处的参考资料。
我们的研究结果表明，在线供应商提供的大麻相关健康信息的质量很差。医疗保健提供者应该意识到，患者可能会将这些网站用作主要信息来源，并在指导患者时适当警告患者，并引导他们访问高质量的来源。未来的研究应该在其他司法管辖区复制这项研究，并评估在线大麻供应商提供的信息的准确性，因为这超出了 DISCERN 工具的范围。
