# Recreational Marijuana Marketing and Young Adult Consumer Behavior

> **NIH NIH R56** · GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $693,912

## Abstract

SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The past decade in the US marked pivotal changes in the policy and retail environments regarding marijuana (MJ), the
most commonly used federally illicit drug, particularly prevalent in young adults and racial and sexual/gender minorities
(SGM). Despite controversy regarding recreational MJ, further legalization is likely, and states will continue to struggle
with how to implement legislation. Thus, states with legalized recreational MJ provide an opportunity and a need to
monitor recreational MJ retail and impact on various subpopulations, as regulatory frameworks for MJ are in their infancy
and require additional research given the nuances of MJ retail (e.g., specialty stores, uniquely diverse products,
progressive promotional strategies). The overall goal of this research is to inform regulatory efforts to minimize MJ use
in vulnerable populations, in states with legalized recreational MJ and those that subsequently legalize it. The immediate
objective of this proposal is to examine the recreational MJ market, MJ use, and related perceptions in consumer
segments of vulnerable populations, particularly diverse young adults. Our scientific premise builds on literature that
indicates that licit drug retail marketing – both brick-and-mortar and online – target vulnerable populations (e.g.,
racial/ethnic minorities, SGM, young adults) and the consequences of such marketing on substance use in these groups.
The MJ retail has largely lacked standardized industry marketing surveillance tools, which have been critical in
establishing the impact of tobacco and alcohol retail marketing and informing regulation. This proposal leverages our
team’s prior work; we developed surveillance tools to characterize point-of-sale practices (e.g., age verification), product
availability, promotional strategies, and product pricing at brick-and-mortar shops and online. Findings indicated several
issues with policy compliance (e.g., inconsistent age verification), promotional strategies appealing to young people and
minorities, various health claims, and minimal health warnings. In addition, our team has demonstrated the utility of
identifying young adults at high-risk for substance use and likely exposure to related marketing by using industry market
segmentation based on psychographics (e.g., values, attitudes, lifestyle); the extent to which psychographics vs.
sociodemographics inform industry marketing strategies, particularly among vulnerable populations, is not well known.
Using a Socioecologic Framework, we aim to: 1) determine whether neighborhood demography is associated with
marketing and point-of-sale practices among recreational MJ retailers over time, accounting for policy context; and 2)
compare young adult market segments defined by age and minority status vs. psychographics in relation to MJ use,
perceptions, access, and advertising exposure in states with differing MJ policy contexts (recreational, medicinal, no
legalized MJ policy) ov...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10488830
- **Project number:** 1R56DA051232-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Carla J Berg
- **Activity code:** R56 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $693,912
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-30 → 2022-04-12

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10488830

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10488830, Recreational Marijuana Marketing and Young Adult Consumer Behavior (1R56DA051232-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10488830. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*