Many college students have reported using marijuana with electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). A recent study looked at the connection between ENDS advertising and use of ENDS with marijuana among college students.
In this study, over 3000 college students responded to online surveys twice over the course of two years. The survey collected data on exposure to ENDS advertising as well as past 6 months use of marijuana in ENDS. This study also collected data on students’ overall tobacco and marijuana use and sensation seeking and impulsivity traits.
The goal of this study was to see if there was an association between ENDS advertising and marijuana use with ENDS in college students, and the results did show a connection between these two variables. At the first wave of the survey, almost half of the participants had reported using ENDS in their lifetime, with 22% having done so in the past month. At the second wave, over half of the participants had used ENDS and 30 day ENDS use dropped to 10%.
As far as ENDS marketing, the most common sources were convenience and grocery stores, the internet, and magazines. When analyzed compared to ENDS use, as exposure to ENDS advertising increased the odds of a student using ENDS to consume marijuana was greater as well. This effect had a greater impact on ENDS use with marijuana compared to sensation seeking, impulsivity, and nicotine and marijuana use.
Take Away: Exposure to ENDS advertising leads to an increase in ENDS use with marijuana among college students.