Study suggests COVID-19 pandemic may have led to increased legal cannabis use in at-risk communities

Harrisburg University of Science and Technology Professor, Dr. Nathaniel Ashby, Consumer Behavior and Decision Sciences program lead, has published a paper detailing his research that examines whether those more susceptible to mental health disease turned to the use of legal cannabis at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The paper, titled, “Anonymized location data reveals trends in legal Cannabis use in communities with increased mental health risks at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,” has been published in The Journal of Addictive Diseases.

The second goal of the research is to study whether the use of specific location data helps reveal potentially concerning community cannabis consumption patterns.

The results of the study suggest that “the COVID-19 pandemic may have led to increased legal cannabis use in at-risk communities. They also highlight the value anonymized location data can provide policymakers and practitioners in uncovering community-level trends as they confront an increasingly uncertain landscape.”

To view the entire article, click https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10550887.2021.1886831

ABOUT HARRISBURG UNIVERSITY

Accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Harrisburg University is a private nonprofit university offering bachelor and graduate degree programs in science, technology, and math fields. For more information on the University’s affordable demand-driven undergraduate and graduate programs, call 717-901-5146 or email, [email protected]. Follow on Twitter (@HarrisburgU) and Facebook (Facebook.com/HarrisburgU).