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. 2020 May 21;15(5):e0233463.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0233463. eCollection 2020.

Characterizing motivations for cannabis use in a cohort of people who use illicit drugs: A latent class analysis

Stephanie Lake  1   2 , Ekaterina Nosova  1 , Jane Buxton  2   3 , Zach Walsh  4 , M Eugenia Socías  1   5 , Kanna Hayashi  1   6 , Thomas Kerr  1   5 , M J Milloy  1   5
Affiliations

Characterizing motivations for cannabis use in a cohort of people who use illicit drugs: A latent class analysis

Stephanie Lake et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Cannabis use is common among marginalized people who use illicit drugs (PWUD) but reasons for use remain poorly investigated. We sought to explore how different intentions for cannabis use relate to social, structural, and behavioural factors among PWUD in Vancouver, Canada.

Methods: We used data from cannabis-using participants in two community-recruited prospective cohort studies of PWUD. Using latent class analysis, we identified discrete cannabis-using groups based on self-reported intentions for use. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine correlates of class membership.

Results: Between June 2016 and December 2018, 2,686 observations from 897 participants cannabis-using PWUD were analyzed. Four latent classes of cannabis use emerged: Class 1 (31.6%), characterized by non-medical purposes; Class 2 (37.5%), characterized by non-pain therapeutic use (e.g., stress, nausea/loss of appetite, and insomnia); characterized by Class 3 (21.9%) predominantly pain relief; and Class 4 (9.0%), characterized by a wide range of therapeutic uses in addition to pain management, including insomnia, stress, nausea/loss of appetite, and harm reduction. Class-specific structural, substance-, and health-related differences were observed, including indicators of better physical and mental health among the "recreational" class, despite evidence of more structural vulnerabilities (e.g., homelessness, incarceration).

Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate a wide spectrum of motivations for cannabis use among PWUD. We observed important health-related differences between latent classes, demonstrating possible unmet healthcare needs among PWUD reporting therapeutic cannabis use. These findings inform ongoing policy surrounding access to cannabis for harm reduction purposes and applications of medical cannabis for PWUD.

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Conflict of interest statement

I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: M-JM is the Canopy Growth professor of cannabis science at the University of British Columbia (UBC), a position created from unstructured arms’ length gifts to the university from Canopy Growth Corporation, a licensed producer of cannabis, and the Government of British Columbia’s Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions. MJM’s institution (the University of British Columbia) has received an unstructured gift from NG Biomed, Ltd., to support him. ZW is Coordinating Principal Investigator on a clinical trial sponsored by Tilray, a licensed producer of medical cannabis. The funders did not play any role in the study design, data collection or analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Primary source of cannabis reported overall and by class membership, June 2016 –December 2018 (n = 897, observations = 2686).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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