In a study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and published this week in the American Journal of Public Health, found that people who are exposed to marijuana ads are not significantly more likely to use the drug.
The study states, “Exposure to any marijuana advertising in the past month did not significantly differ by participant gender, race/ethnicity, highest level of education completed, home ownership, residence in a metro area, or marijuana use (Table 3).”
The researchers of the study found that “exposure to advertising was significantly higher among people who said they had a marijuana store in their neighborhood.”
However the ad reach did not make much of a difference on whether the people people shop at those dispensaries or use the drug.
Out of the people who said they saw a marijuana ad in the last 30 days, 53% said they never even used the drug.
“Our study found limited exposure to marijuana health risk messages among adults in Oregon,” said the authors who also work in the Oregon Public Health Division.
“Nearly 5 times as many adults overall reported near daily exposure to marijuana advertising (7.4%) compared with health risk messages (1.5%). However, during the time of this study the only health risk messages being broadly implemented were 3 posters required at the point of sale about preventing child poisonings, use during pregnancy, and impaired driving.”