Analyzing sentiments and themes on cannabis in Canada using 2018 to 2020 Twitter data

Najafizada, Maisam; Rahman, Arifur; Donnan, Jennifer; Dong, Zhihao; Bishop, Lisa

doi:10.1186/s42238-022-00132-1

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…A content analysis was conducted on a random sample of tweets using the qualitative methodology laid out in prior research analysing the themes of cannabis related tweets [17] and YouTube videos [21,22]. Two researchers (Carmen Lim and Tianze Sun) independently read through the tweets and took initial notes to get familiar with the The percentages for the four themes (policy, sales and industry opportunities, therapeutic value, adverse effects) sum up to 100%.…”

Section: Content Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Twitter is a micro‐blogging and real‐time communication social media platform used by millions of people to share information and form opinions on cannabis‐related topics. Twitter has been used by researchers to examine public opinion and behavioural intentions towards cannabis between 2014 and 2020 [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. In these studies, the volume of tweets was greater in jurisdictions that have legalised cannabis for non‐medicinal and/or medicinal use [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ] and most tweets were pro‐cannabis [ 12 , 13 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What is the hype on #MedicinalCannabis in the United States? A content analysis of medicinal cannabis tweets

Lim

Sun

Gartner

et al. 2023

Drug and Alcohol Review

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IntroductionMedicinal cannabis is now legal in 44 US jurisdictions. Between 2020 and 2021 alone, four US jurisdictions legalised medicinal cannabis. The aim of this study is to identify themes in medicinal cannabis tweets from US jurisdictions with different legal statuses of cannabis from January to June 2021.MethodsA total of 25,099 historical tweets from 51 US jurisdictions were collected using Python. Content analysis was performed on a random sample of tweets accounting for the population size of each US jurisdictions (n = 750). Results were presented separately by tweets posted from jurisdictions where all cannabis use (non‐medicinal and medicinal) is ‘fully legalised’, ‘illegal’ and legal for ‘medical‐only’ use.ResultsFour themes were identified: ‘Policy’, ‘Therapeutic value’, ‘Sales and industry opportunities’ and ‘Adverse effects’. Most of the tweets were posted by the public. The most common theme was related to ‘Policy’ (32.5%–61.5% of the tweets). Tweets on ‘Therapeutic value’ were prevalent in all jurisdictions and accounted for 23.8%–32.1% of the tweets. Sales and promotional activities were prominent even in illegal jurisdictions (12.1%–26.5% of the tweets). Fewer than 10% of tweets were about intoxication and withdrawal symptoms.Discussion and ConclusionThis study has explored if content themes of medicinal cannabis tweets differed by cannabis legal status. Most tweets were pro‐cannabis and they were related to policy, therapeutic value, and sales and industry opportunities. Tweets on unsubstantiated health claims, adverse effects and crime warrants continued surveillance as these conversations could allow us to estimate cannabis‐related harms to inform health surveillance.

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Section: Content Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What is the hype on #MedicinalCannabis in the United States? A content analysis of medicinal cannabis tweets

Lim

Sun

Gartner

et al. 2023

Drug and Alcohol Review

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“…Another essential application is Natural Language Processing (NLP), which extensively utilizes neural networks to analyze text, facilitate conversations, and extract key ideas ( 25 ). Most studies conducted on Twitter have focused on cannabis and opioids ( 5 , 18 , 26 , 27 ). Currently, some preliminary results related to cocaine use have been obtained from different social media by the use of AI and ML ( 28 , 29 ) and previous works in Twitter analysis have considered cocaine use in the context of polysubstance use ( 30 , 31 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These neural networks find applications in various domains related to substance use, enabling detection of abuse patterns (22) and related harms (23), also allowing researchers to understand public perceptions and opinions of a drug (5) while exploring potential differences in these points across regions and countries (24). Another essential application is Natural Language Processing (NLP), which extensively utilizes neural networks to analyze text, facilitate conversations, and extract key ideas (25). Most studies conducted on Twitter have focused on cannabis and opioids (5,18,26,27).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insights from the Twittersphere: a cross-sectional study of public perceptions, usage patterns, and geographical differences of tweets discussing cocaine

Castillo-Toledo,

Fraile-Martínez,

Donat-Vargas

et al. 2024

Front. Psychiatry

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IntroductionCocaine abuse represents a major public health concern. The social perception of cocaine has been changing over the decades, a phenomenon closely tied to its patterns of use and abuse. Twitter is a valuable tool to understand the status of drug use and abuse globally. However, no specific studies discussing cocaine have been conducted on this platform.Methods111,508 English and Spanish tweets containing “cocaine” from 2018 to 2022 were analyzed. 550 were manually studied, and the largest subset underwent automated classification. Then, tweets related to cocaine were analyzed to examine their content, types of Twitter users, usage patterns, health effects, and personal experiences. Geolocation data was also considered to understand regional differences.ResultsA total of 71,844 classifiable tweets were obtained. Among these, 15.95% of users discussed the harm of cocaine consumption to health. Media outlets had the highest number of tweets (35.11%) and the most frequent theme was social/political denunciation (67.88%). Regarding the experience related to consumption, there are more tweets with a negative sentiment. The 9.03% of tweets explicitly mention frequent use of the drug. The continent with the highest number of tweets was America (55.44% of the total).DiscussionThe findings underscore the significance of cocaine as a current social and political issue, with a predominant focus on political and social denunciation in the majority of tweets. Notably, the study reveals a concentration of tweets from the United States and South American countries, reflecting the high prevalence of cocaine-related disorders and overdose cases in these regions. Alarmingly, the study highlights the trivialization of cocaine consumption on Twitter, accompanied by a misleading promotion of its health benefits, emphasizing the urgent need for targeted interventions and antidrug content on social media platforms. Finally, the unexpected advocacy for cocaine by healthcare professionals raises concerns about potential drug abuse within this demographic, warranting further investigation.

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“…Social media platforms provide publicly accessible data that can be used to rapidly capture and describe various contexts and discussions about substances such as cannabis. Previously, Twitter has been used to research health-related discussions and experiences of cannabis use ( Allem et al, 2020 , 2022 ) and public reactions and sentiments concerning cannabis policy reforms ( Mann et al, 2022 ; Najafizada et al, 2022 ; Thompson et al, 2015 ; van Draanen et al, 2020 ). Some research focuses on specific cannabinoid-based products such as edibles ( Lamy et al, 2016 ) and concentrates ( Daniulaityte et al, 2015 , 2018 ), as well as others, which are concerned with how public health organisations and government agencies communicate about cannabis on Twitter ( van Draanen et al, 2019 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Twitter activity surrounding the Finnish green party's cannabis legalisation proposal: A mixed-methods analysis

Ünlü

Hupli

2023

Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs

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Background: In September 2021, a Finnish political party, the Greens, voted to include cannabis policy reform in their party programme, which would legalise the use, possession, manufacture and sale of cannabis. A rapid public discussion has emerged on different social media platforms, including Twitter. Methods: We downloaded 10 days of Twitter data and prepared it for further text analysis, including sentiment, topic modelling and thematic content analysis. Results: Before the proposal, the average daily number of tweets was approximately 140. However, during the week of the proposal, there was a significant increase in tweet volume, reaching a peak of 6,600 tweets on a single day, with a daily average of over 2,700 tweets. Sentiment analysis showed that during the public discussion, the sentiment scores of the tweets were more likely to be positive. Through topic modelling analysis, we obtained the weight of the topic for each tweet, which enabled us to identify the most representative tweets in our corpus. To narrow the sample size for content analysis, we selected tweets that had a topic percentage distribution of over 0.95 (N=188) for closer thematic content analysis. Several positive and negative themes emerged, which were then categorised under broader topics. Similar themes were identified in the most retweeted, liked and commented tweets, which came mainly from known public figures, including politicians, health experts and NGO leaders. Conclusion: Our results show that the discussion was not limited to cannabis legalisation, but instead covered a variety of topics related to drug policy.

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Analyzing sentiments and themes on cannabis in Canada using 2018 to 2020 Twitter data

Cited by 7 publications

References 19 publications

What is the hype on #MedicinalCannabis in the United States? A content analysis of medicinal cannabis tweets

What is the hype on #MedicinalCannabis in the United States? A content analysis of medicinal cannabis tweets

Insights from the Twittersphere: a cross-sectional study of public perceptions, usage patterns, and geographical differences of tweets discussing cocaine

Twitter activity surrounding the Finnish green party's cannabis legalisation proposal: A mixed-methods analysis

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