Marijuana use remains the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States, and many people experience problems related to their marijuana use yet do not seek treatment. Web-based interventions for problematic marijuana use represent a potentially cost-effective and highly accessible way to reach a large number of adults who are ambivalent about changing their marijuana use, or are concerned about seeking in-person counseling for their use. The goal of this online study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a brief web-based feedback intervention for adult marijuana users who reported at least some problems related to their marijuana use. Eighty-two adult college students who reported at least some problems related to marijuana use at baseline were randomized to one of two conditions to examine whether a personalized feedback report would impact marijuana use at follow-up relative to an education control group. Feedback reports were delivered to participants after completion of a baseline assessment battery, and participants were reassessed at one- and three-months post-baseline. Primary outcome variables were problems related to marijuana use and frequency of marijuana use. Main outcome analyses examined change over time by condition as well as possible moderating variables of Stage of Change and family history of problematic substance use. Both marijuana-related problems and marijuana use rates showed some indication of reduction over time at the one-month follow-up, but there were no significant interactions by condition indicative of differential change. These reductions were not sustained at three-months. Analyses across the final follow-up period were likely not significant due to low follow-up completion rates, as well as an overall lower-than-expected sample size. Study recruitment will continue for one additional year to increase sample size for future analyses, but at this time there was no clear evidence the personalized feedback intervention was effective. / Ph. D.

As the movement to decriminalize marijuana has gained more support throughout the United States, as of early 2017, 21 states have decriminalized the possession of a small amount of marijuana for personal recreational use, and more states are expected to decriminalize marijuana (GOVERNING 2017). Despite this strong move toward decriminalizing marijuana, however, the consequences of implementing such a policy are still very much unknown. One of the concerns regarding this movement to decriminalize marijuana is its potential impact on road safety (Schrader 2015; Roberts 2017; Halsey 2015). Although there are a few studies that have examined the association between marijuana use and availability and traffic fatalities, these studies are correlational in nature and show divergent outcomes (Anderson and Ree 2011; Anderson et al. 2013). Furthermore, these studies do not examine the impact of decriminalizing marijuana on road safety. In order to fill this gap, my research investigates the causal association between marijuana decriminalization and traffic fatalities by using the synthetic control method, pioneered by Abadie et al. (2010). This study estimates the causal effects of 2009 Massachusetts's marijuana decriminalization on Massachusetts' total traffic fatalities by comparing Massachusetts's trends in total traffic fatalities and its synthetic counterpart. The results of this study show a temporary increase in the number of total traffic fatalities in Massachusetts compared to its synthetic counterpart between 2009 and 2012, suggesting marijuana decriminalization's detrimental effect on road safety. Future studies should consider investigating the heterogeneous effects of marijuana decriminalization on traffic fatalities based on age groups, gender, and residential density and the causal mechanism between marijuana decriminalization and traffic fatalities.

The economic impact of legalized marijuana has been massive, but does legal marijuana have the impact to create new types of urban spaces? The legalization of formerly illicit vices has created urban spaces thematically constructed around vice, such as The Strip in Las Vegas (gambling) or The Wallen in Amsterdam (prostitution). This paper suggests that legalized marijuana similarly has the potential to construct vice-themed urban spaces in a post-industrial economic paradigm defined by consumption. Using Denver’s South Broadway (an urban area that has been rebranded as “The Green Mile” due to the outgrowth of marijuana businesses in the area) as the foundation for the analysis, this paper uses qualitative methodologies including historical and content analysis and interviews to examine how marijuana becomes normalized through legalization and resituated for mass consumption, in turn creating the possibility for the construction of thematic urban spaces.

This thesis is an examination of the various ways in which marijuana, its use, and its users have historically been signified, within both hegemonic and subcultural discourses, from marijuana's origins in antiquity through its North American prohibition in the earlier part of the twentieth century. Attention is given to how this history, and prohibition in particular, has informed contemporary North American significations of the drug, its use and its users.

Thèse (Ph.D.)--Université Laval, 2006. / Bibliogr.: f. 291-290. Publié aussi en version électronique dans la Collection Mémoires et thèses électroniques.

Thesis (M.A.(Clinical Psychology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / A study investigating third year psychology students’ attitudes towards the use of marijuana at the University of Limpopo was undertaken. The study was quantitative in nature and used a cross sectional survey design. A random sample of 165 third year psychology students was used. The Health Belief-Model was used as a theoretical framework, which guided the study and the reporting of the research results. The self-report questions were made up of several standardised questionnaires. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics namely, frequency tables and figures as they gave a clear overall picture of the data. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to determine if there were any significant differences between male and female participants in terms of knowledge and attitudes. The results of the study found that overall respondents had negative attitudes toward marijuana use. The study also indicated that there were no gender differences in attitudes toward marijuana use. In terms of the Pearson correlation coefficient a weak positive relationship was found between self-efficacy and attitudes toward marijuana use amongst third year psychology students. The study recommended that workshops are organised to share knowledge about marijuana and its effects.

No description available.

Family structure as a predictive variable of juvenile delinquency has been studied for the last hundred years. This relationship originated due to societal belief that divorce was detrimental to adolescents. Due to the changing societal roles in the United States, family structure has been changing. More children are growing up in non-intact families, such as single-parent households, households with stepparents, cohabitating families, and households without a parent present. To study the effect family structure has on juvenile delinquency, researchers have utilized social control theory, differential association, self-control theory and general strain theory to conceptualize variables to explain why family structure influences delinquent behavior. A review of previous literature on this topic indicates that living in intact households, which are households with two biological parents who are married, have, on average, the lowest rates of delinquency. This thesis investigates the relationship between family structure and lifetime marijuana use among eighth and tenth grade adolescents in the United States through the use of secondary data analysis of Monitoring the Future Study, 2012. The results provide support for the relationship between family structure and lifetime marijuana use.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Occupational Therapy Johannesburg, 2014. / Background: Individuals suffering from both a psychotic disorder and a substance abuse disorder have shown to have poorer occupational outcomes. This study aimed at determining the exact consequences of substance abuse on occupational performance in order to tailor more specific treatment interventions in the future. Methodology: A non-experimental design and observational study was used. This involved a once off occupational therapy assessment using the Activity Participation Outcome Measure (APOM) as the recoding tool. The participants were divided into three groups: Alcohol abuse, cannabis abuse and no substance abuse. Methodology: A non-experimental design and observational study was used. This involved a once off occupational therapy assessment using the Activity Participation Outcome Measure (APOM) as the recoding tool. The participants were divided into three groups: Alcohol abuse, cannabis abuse and no substance abuse. Results: A statistically significant difference was noted between the alcohol and cannabis groups. The alcohol group achieved a higher level of activity participation in all eight APOM domains (Role performance, life skills, communication, motivation, process skills, self esteem, balanced lifestyle, and affect). The no substance abuse group (individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia) showed the lowest level of activity participation. Conclusion: Cannabis adolescent abuse/dependence appears to have a more negative impact on activity participation when compared to alcohol abuse.

Este trabalho entende a cultura como elemento central nas investigações e análises sociais contemporâneas. Além de fazer circular sentidos e significados socialmente compartilhados, a cultura, conforme importante teórico dos Estudos Culturais, Stuart Hall, constitui uma forma de governar a população. De acordo com esta abordagem, a educação não é um fenômeno que ocorre exclusivamente nas instituições escolares. O trabalho considera a mídia como importante operador de um dispositivo pedagógico, que contribui na educação dos indivíduos, agindo nos modos como conduzem suas condutas. A partir de acontecimentos como as recentes experiências de legalização da maconha no Uruguai e em alguns estados dos Estados Unidos, o trabalho investiga o que chama de discurso antiproibicionista da maconha no jornal Folha de S. Paulo e como o tema das drogas e da maconha é transformado em pauta do jornal e em crítica à racionalidade estatal de governo. Os textos editoriais da Folha constituem a principal fonte através da qual é possível analisar discurso antiproibicionista da maconha. Sendo as drogas uma questão da cultura, o que se diz sobre elas induz as opiniões e as formas como os sujeitos se relacionam com elas. Para Michel Foucault, a racionalidade liberal, que emerge no século XIX e aprofunda-se no século XX, é um desdobramento da governamentalidade consolidada na razão de Estado que, entre os séculos XVI e XVIII, aprofundou a arte de governar com a noção de que se deve estender o governo a todas as esferas da vida e de que nunca se governa o suficiente. O estudo procurou expor a mudança de uma racionalidade de tipo estatal, que busca garantir segurança e bem-estar (manifestada, dentre outras formas, através das políticas de controle e repressão das drogas) para uma outra racionalidade, que procura atribuir um novo significado à maconha, a partir de pressupostos que questionam o dispêndio do Estado na forma de governar em relação às drogas. / This work presents culture as a central element in contemporary social research and analysis. In addition to bringing about socially shared meanings, culture, as the renowed Cultural Studies theorist, Stuart Hall says, “is a way of governing the population”. According to this approach, education is not a phenomenon that occurs exclusively through school as an institution. The media is here perceived as an important operator of a pedagogical device, contributing to the education of individuals and in the ways they carry out their conducts. Analyzing events such as recent marijuana legalization experiments in Uruguay and in some states of the United States, this work investigates the anti-prohibitionist discourse of marijuana in Folha de S. Paulo and how it presents the theme of drugs and marijuana as news and critics of the state's rationality of government. Folha's editorial texts are the main source through which it is possible to analyze anti-prohibitionist discourse on marijuana. Since drugs are a cultural matter, the way they are presented forms the opinions and the ways in which subjects relate to them. According to Michel Foucault, liberal rationality, which emerged in the nineteenth century and deepened in the twentieth century, is a development of governmentality consolidated through the reason of state which, between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, deepened the art of governing from the notion that government should be extended to all aspects of life and that its presence is never enough. The study sought to expose the change of a state-type rationality, which seeks to guarantee security and well-being (manifested, among other ways, through policies of drug control and repression) to another rationality, which seeks to give a new meaning to the marijuana, from assumptions that question the expenditure of the state in the government policies on drugs.