Research on the depiction of cannabis on TikTok has revealed that more than 50 per cent of videos examined on the social media platform portrayed the drug in a positive way.
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University of Queensland (UQ) national centre for youth substance use lead research author, Brienna Rutherford, said it was concerning given the platform's popularity among young users.
"The more that young people are seeing these kinds of things that are promoting substances, the more likely that they're going to be less concerned about the risks," Ms Rutherford said.
In 881 videos examined in the study, about 54 per cent depicted cannabis use positively.
Of this, 71.74 per cent of the content showed cannabis use as entertaining or humorous, 42.90 per cent discussed personal cannabis use experiences, and 24.63 per cent promoted the social and cultural acceptance of cannabis use.
None of the videos were age restricted.
University of New South Wales centre for social research in health Associate Professor Joanne Bryant said social media's influence on substance use was not well understood.
"I think we often jump to the conclusion that young people will use substances if they see it online, then they're going to use it but that's not the case at all," she said.
"In fact, young people make careful decisions for themselves and, you know, they're still learning about life, for sure, and they might make decisions that aren't good for them, but they do often make decisions that are right for themselves and their particular circumstances."
Associate Professor Bryant said helping young people with their mental wellbeing and taking a holistic approach to managing substance use among young people was part of the solution.
"Keeping them feeling well and healthy, socially and emotionally," she said.
"That's how you're going to manage substance use for this generation of young people ... by attending to their mental health."
TikTok removes cannabis-related hashtags from content, but videos depicting cannabis use can still be found and shared.
A spokesperson for TikTok told ACM keeping young users safe was a priority.
"Regardless of a user's age, we strictly prohibit content that depicts or promotes the sale, trade or consumption of tobacco or drugs by minors, and we will remove any content found to be violating our Community Guidelines," the spokesperson said.
"We also do not recommend content that shows or promotes cannabis, vaping or other tobacco products in TikTok users feeds.
"There is no finish line when it comes to our community's safety and we will continue to invest at scale in our people and technology to proactively detect and remove content that violates our Community Guidelines."
According to the most recent data from the Australian Institute of Heath and Welfare, substance use has consistently declined in the past two decades for people aged 14 to 17.
The numbers show just under one in 10 of 14 to 17 year olds, at 9.7 per cent, had recently used an illicit drug. This was a decrease from 10.9 per cent in 2016, and a significant declined since 2001, when 23 per cent of people aged 14 to 17 had recently used an illicit drug.
But UQ's Rutherford said the effects of pro-cannabis TikTok content wouldn't be immediately obvious.
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"It's going to be seen, you know, 12 months down the line, two years down the line," she said.
"When it comes to social media, more so than movies, songs, or celebrities [promoting substance use] ... it's seen as a super peer, so it's like your friendship circle, but times 1000."
Ms Rutherford has been calling for effective age restrictions or warning banners to be placed on publicly-available videos depicting substance use, as health organisations get creative with their messaging online.
"My recommendation has always been that public health organisations make the most of the reach of social media and try to capitalise on accessibility of those platforms to get information out to young people," she said.
"To say, 'hey, look, we understand that you might think it looks cool, but here are the risks that are actually going to happen to you at this stage'."
