August 2024
A new review from the Prevention Research Center of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) indicates that mass media approaches to preventing problematic cannabis use among youth don’t work, but other interventions may be useful.
PIRE researchers examined 10 meta-analytic studies that evaluated the effectiveness of interventions to prevent problematic cannabis use, including school-based programs, online/digital interventions, mass-media approaches, culturally specific interventions, and brief interventions.
The results show that:
- Some school-based programs, online/digital interventions, and culturally specific interventions may help to prevent or reduce cannabis use among youth, although the effects tend to be mixed and small.
- Brief interventions had no apparent effect on cannabis use frequency, but had small beneficial effects on cannabis use disorder, consequences, and abstinence.
- Mass media approaches were not effective in preventing cannabis use.
Says lead research scientist, Dr. Sharon O’Hara: “A significant shortcoming in the literature is that no meta-analytic reviews have focused on environmental or community-based strategies to prevent or reduce cannabis use among youth. Longstanding research in the alcohol and tobacco fields show that environmental prevention strategies, such as age restrictions for sales, purchase, and possession of alcohol and tobacco as well as appropriate pricing, limitations on hours of sale, and retail outlet density restrictions all help limit use of these products. We need to determine if they will work for problematic cannabis use.”
Source: O’Hara, Sharon E., Mallie J. Paschall, and Joel W. Grube. “A Review of Meta-Analyses of Prevention Strategies for Problematic Cannabis Use.” Current Addiction Reports (2024): 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40429-024-00592-w
