Is 4/20 an Event-Specific Marijuana Holiday? A Daily Diary Investigation of Marijuana Use and Consequences Among College Students

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Objective: Given the popular association between April 20 ("4/20") and marijuana, the present study examined marijuana use and consequences on 4/20 compared with other days in order to test whether 4/20 is a high-risk, event-specific marijuana use holiday among college student marijuana users. Method: Fifty-nine college student marijuana users from three different, large U.S. universities located in Virginia, New Mexico, and Colorado completed daily brief surveys (<10 minutes) over a 12-day (April 15-April 26) period assessing prior-day marijuana use (i.e., percentage of users who consumed marijuana, number of unique marijuana use sessions, subjective high/intoxication while under the influence of marijuana, and number of grams of marijuana consumed) and marijuana-related consequences. Results: Using oneway repeated-measures analyses of variance, we found that (a) 50% of students reported using marijuana on 4/20, which was significantly more than weekdays (28%) and weekend days (37%); (b) students reported a significantly higher number of unique marijuana use sessions on 4/20 (M = 1.47) compared with weekdays (M = 0.91); and (c) students reported a significantly higher number of grams consumed on 4/20 (M = 0.79) compared with weekdays (M = 0.35) and weekend days (M = 0.47). Conclusions: Our study provides preliminary support that 4/20 is a day associated with increased marijuana use but provides little evidence for an association with more problematic use. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 78, 134-139, 2017)

Event-Specific Cannabis Use and Cannabis Use Motives

“…It is also noteworthy that event-specific use was not correlated with event-specific problems, given the robust relation between use and problems observed in typical use (Buckner, 2013). However, this finding is consistent with the only other known study of event-specific (4/20) cannabis use problems (Bravo et al, 2017). It may be that the event-specific problems reported are less chronic than problems reported on typical measures.…”

“…Despite the risks associated with college cannabis use, little research has identified high-risk cannabis use situations. Emerging data indicate that cannabis use increases during specific events (Bravo, Pearson, Conner, & Parnes, 2017; Buckner et al, 2015; Hesse, Tutenges, & Schliewe, 2010; Ragsdale et al, 2012). Yet the majority of work on event-specific substance use examines high-risk events that occur on nearly all campuses (e.g., Spring Break; Ragsdale et al, 2012) and little attention has been paid to campus-specific high-risk substance use events.…”

Negative marijuana‐related consequences among college students in five countries: measurement invariance of the Brief Marijuana Consequences Questionnaire

“…reports of physical fights) [19]. Although several studies have used the MACQ (or B-MACQ) to assess marijuana-related negative consequences [20][21][22][23][24][25][26], no published study to date has examined the MACQ outside North America (i.e. United States and Canada).…”

Profiles of Alcohol and Marijuana Use Among Simultaneous Alcohol and Marijuana Users: Individual Differences in Demographics and Substance Use

“…A modified version of the DDQ (Bravo et al, 2017; Collins et al, 2007) assessed marijuana use during a typical week in the past 3 months. Participants were provided with pictures of average-sized joints and were asked to estimate the number of average-sized joints they use per day, on average.…”