Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Likelihood of marijuana-related police stop/search or arrest depends on many factors other than simply engaging in marijuana-related activity. Police are assumed to suspect individuals of marijuana-related offenses based on several personal characteristics, including ethnicity, age, gender, age, educational level, and subculture. An individual’s likelihood of marijuana-related police contact is hypothesized to depend on how strongly this suspicion, the “police gaze,” falls on them, independently of their actual participation in public marijuana use. A diverse, street-recruited, purposive sample of 462 marijuana users in New York City completed questionnaires for this study. Several factors, including racial minority status, neighborhood in which the participant was recruited, gender, unemployed/non-student status, youth, and lower educational level were found to be simultaneously and independently related to likelihood of marijuana-related police contact even controlling for frequency of use, public use, and observance of etiquette intended to make the behavior less of a nuisance. Etiquette was found, moreover, to be differentially effective based on race, location, and gender: Predicted probability of marijuana-related police contact was roughly 50% for African-Americans, males, and users recruited from Harlem or the South Bronx who observed none of the etiquettes and 10% or less if they followed all four. By contrast, predicted probability of marijuana-related police contact for whites, females, and users recruited from non-poverty areas of Manhattan hovered around or below 10% regardless of etiquette observance. The odds of marijuana-related police contact for Latinos were more than three times the odds for whites. Results bear out that centrality to the “police gaze” dramatically influences an individual’s likelihood of marijuana-related police stop/search and arrest independently of whether they engaged in any marijuana-related illegal behavior.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: A fundamental problem in illicit drug research is that relatively little is known about the actual weights of illegal retail units, and about how prices are managed within different markets. Most data comes from police/DEA datasets. Behavioral scientists have rarely studied actual retail purchases. This pilot study carefully weighed retail purchases by a variety of marijuana purchasers. During an ethnographic study of Blunts/marijuana in NYC, staff recruited active marijuana users from a variety of ethnicities, genders, SES backgrounds, and communities in NYC. Recruitment efforts included different neighborhoods and retail sales modes in public settings (streets, parks, stores, etc.) and from private locales (bars, apartments, dorms, offices, etc.). While initial access was occasionally challenging, rich ethnographic data delineates how a variety of marijuana users from different settings and SES backgrounds were recruited. A hundred marijuana users provided a recent marijuana purchase for the ethnographer to weigh, and provided additional information about the price paid, described the “retail unit,” the type of retail distributors purchased from, the perceived quality of the product, locale of the purchase, and the purchaser’s demographics. Experienced ethnographers provided a more objective assessment of marijuana quality. Surprisingly, marijuana users were eager to participate in this market research and to know how much their marijuana purchases weighed. Future research with larger samples of marijuana retail units is needed.

Note: This Bardhi paper should precede the Sifaneck et al paper in Panel organizing.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to identify developmental trajectories of problem alcohol and marijuana use from adolescence into young adulthood and to examine if family history of alcoholism, as well as a measure of sensation seeking (arousal) needs, predict trajectory group membership.
Using growth mixture modeling, five waves of longitudinal data from the Rutgers Health and Human Development Project were used to develop trajectories of problem alcohol and marijuana use. Chi-square analysis and ANOVAs were used to compare trajectory groups in terms of family history of alcoholism and arousal needs.
Five trajectory groups of problem users were identified: non-problem, minimal, adolescence-limited, chronic, and late onset escalating. Of those subjects who were chronic alcohol problem users, 27 percent- also displayed marijuana related problems well into adulthood. In addition, of those subjects who experienced adolescent limited alcohol problems, only 10 percent- displayed long term problems with marijuana.
Those subjects with chronic problem use of both alcohol and marijuana exhibited statistically higher sensation seeking scores at times one to three. This finding suggests that while sensation seeking needs appear to diminish in adulthood, early sensation seeking needs set in motion a trajectory of chronic use of alcohol and marijuana.
Finally, subjects who have an alcoholic mother or father appear to be at heightened risk for high levels of arousal needs and to subsequently be at higher risk for chronic problems associated with alcohol and marijuana use.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper explores the marijuana scene in an disadvantaged Mexican American inner- city community. This research is primarily based on qualitative data from a CDC and two NIDA funded studies on 500 Mexican American male gang members, gang associated females and non-injecting heroin users between the ages of 16 – 30 years old. The paper focuses on four general areas in order to provide a contextual overview of marijuana use among this population. Quantitative data examines the patterns of marijuana use including age of onset, lifetime and current use, and frequency of use. Next, qualitative data is presented on the “social occasion” of marijuana use focusing on factors associated with excess leisure time (high unemployment, school dropout rates), context of use (i.e. social gatherings vs. conventional gatherings) and “smoking buddies” (family, friends, intimates). The use of marijuana with other drugs is examined, specifically as it relates to patterns (i.e. before or after using heroin, cocaine) and psychopharmacological experiences. Finally, emerging trends among marijuana users in this population are identified including new smoking paraphernalia, blunts and marketing strategies. Findings reveal important contextual factors associated with continual marijuana use despite the use of other drugs (heroin and cocaine) that occur over the life course. Findings indicate that while this population is characterized as chronic marijuana users there is a certain degree of regulation associated with specific social circumstances that emerge over time. These data may have important drug policy implications such as the prevention and control of adverse consequences and self-regulation of use.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Objectives. This study tests the impact of an in-school media/social marketing campaign, in combination with a participatory, community-based media effort, on marijuana, alcohol and tobacco uptake among middle-school students.
Methods. Eight media treatment and eight control communities throughout the U.S. were randomly assigned to condition. Within both media treatment and media control communities, one school received a research-based prevention curriculum and one school did not, resulting in a crossed, split-plot design. Four waves of longitudinal data were collected over two years in each school and were analyzed using generalized linear mixed models to account for clustering effects.
Results. Youth in intervention communities (N = 4216) showed fewer users at final post-test for marijuana (odds-ration [OR] =.49, p<.05), for alcohol (OR=.39, p<.05), and, marginally, for cigarettes (OR=.47, p<.10 [two-tailed]). Latent growth trajectory results varied by substance outcome and by analytic strategy.