Digital Commons Network^™

Midweed: A Comparison Between Marijuana Laws, Regulations, And Social Attitudes In Cannabis-Legal Vs. Cannabis-Illegal Midwest States, Abagail Lim

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Professional Projects

This professional project is a series of three journalistic articles. Each article focuses on laws, regulations and social attitudes surrounding marijuana in the United States. These topics are explored primarily through the lenses of two Midwest states (Illinois & Nebraska), which have highly contrasting laws and regulations regarding marijuana. The state of Illinois legalized medical marijuana in January 2014 and recreational marijuana in January 2020, while in Nebraska, both medical and recreational use still remains illegal, though possession of up to one ounce has been decriminalized.

The purpose of choosing these two states is to show how stark a contrast …

The Green Wave: Effects Of Legal Marijuana On The Labor Market., Sara Varon

Honors Theses

In this paper I examine the relationship between the introduction of recreational marijuana laws and the labor market. First, using Google Trends data I find evidence that states that undergo the treatment of recreational marijuana legalization will likely experience a large and significant increase in search volume terms related to marijuana demand following the implementation of marijuana regulations. Using this same data set, I find support for the theory that as marijuana legalization becomes more entrenched within each individual state, public interest for marijuana also increases which allows for the use of Google Trends data as a proxy for legalization …

Exploring Alcohol Use, Cannabis Use, And Desire To Dissociate In College Female Victims Of Sexual Violence, Gabrielle Krause, Jessie Tibbs, Antover Tuliao, Dennis Mcchargue

UCARE Research Products

Almost 20% of undergraduate women experience some type of completed sexual assault before graduating college. Experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, has been shown to increase difficulties with emotion regulation, and both PTSD symptoms and emotion regulation difficulties have been associated with marijuana-use coping motives (Bonn-Miller et al., 2011). Additionally, prior research has found that emotion dysregulation predicts alcohol involved sexual assault (AISA) in the short term, and alcohol problems increases the risk for AISA in the long term (Messman-Moore et al., 2014). This suggests a cyclical relationship in coping drinking motives. This study seeks to further examine …

Co-Occurrence Of Tobacco Product Use, Substance Use, And Mental Health Problems Among Youth: Findings From Wave 1 (2013–2014) Of The Population Assessment Of Tobacco And Health (Path) Study, Kevin P. Conway, Victoria R. Green, Karin A. Kasza, Marushka L. Silveira, Nicolette Borek, Heather L. Kimmel, James D. Sargent, Cassandra A. Stanton, Elizabeth Lambert, Nahla Hilmi, Chad J. Reissig, Kia J. Jackson, Susanne E. Tanski, David Maklan, Andrew J. Hyland, Wilson M. Compton

Food and Drug Administration Papers

Introduction: Cigarette use is associated with substance use and mental health problems among youth, but as- sociations are unknown for non-cigarette tobacco product use, as well as the increasingly common poly-tobacco use.

Methods: The current study examined co-occurrence of substance use and mental health problems across tobacco products among 13,617 youth aged 12–17 years from Wave 1 (2013–2014) of the nationally representative Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study. Participants self-reported ever cigarette, e-cigar- ette, smokeless tobacco, traditional cigar, cigarillo, filtered cigar, hookah, and other tobacco product use; al- cohol, marijuana, and other drugs; and lifetime substance use, internalizing …

Phorodon Cannabis Passerini (Hemiptera: Aphididae), A Newly Recognized Pest In North America Found On Industrial Hemp, Whitney S. Cranshaw, Susan E. Halbert, Colin Favret, Kadie E. Britt, Gary L. Miller

Insecta Mundi

Phorodon cannabis Passerini (Hemiptera: Aphididae: Macrosiphini) is reported for the first time as a pest of Cannabis L. crops in North America. The insect has been confirmed from fields of industrial hemp in Colorado and Virginia and has been found present within greenhouses in at least several American states and one Canadian province. The generic position of the aphid species is discussed and other known members of the genus are ruled out. Phorodon cannabis is placed in genus Phorodon Passerini and subgenus (Diphorodon Börner). Phorodon persifoliae Shinji is transferred to Hyalopterus Koch as a nomen dubium.

Grass Is Not Always Greener: Rodenticide Exposure Of A Threatened Species Near Marijuana Growing Operations, Alan B. Franklin, Peter C. Carlson, Angela Rex, Jeremy T. Rockwelt, David Garza, Emily Culhane, Steven F. Volker, Robert J. Dusek, Valerie I. Shearn-Bochsler, Mourad W. Gabriel, Katherine E. Horak

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Marijuana (Cannabis spp.) growing operations (MGO) in California have increased substantially since the mid-1990s. One environmental side-effect of MGOs is the extensive use of anticoagulant rodenticides (AR) to prevent damage to marijuana plants caused by wild rodents. In association with a long-term demographic study, we report on an observation of brodifacoum AR exposure in a threatened species, the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina), found freshly dead within 669–1347 m of at least seven active MGOs.

Evaluation Of Divided Attention Psychophysical Task Performance And Effects On Pupil Sizes Following Smoked, Vaporized And Oral Cannabis Administration, Matthew N. Newmeyer, Madeleine J. Swortwood, Megan E. Taylor, Osama A. Abulseoud, Thomas H. Woodward, Marilyn A. Huestis

Public Health Resources

Establishing science-based driving per se blood Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) limits is challenging, in part because of prolonged THC detection in chronic, frequent users. Therefore, documenting observable signs of impairment is important for driving under the influence of drugs. We evaluated frequent and occasional cannabis smokers’ performance on the modified Romberg balance, one leg stand (OLS), and walk and turn (WAT) tasks, and pupil size effects following controlled placebo (0.001% THC), smoked, vaporized and oral (6.9% [~50.4mg] THC) cannabis administration. Significant effects following inhaled doses were not observed due to delayed tasks administration 1.5 and 3.5 h post-dose, but significant …

Predicting Cannabis Cultivation On National Forests Using A Rational Choice Framework, Frank H. Koch, Jeffrey P. Prestemon, Geoffrey H. Donovan, Everett A. Hinkley, John M. Chase

USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications

Government agencies in the United States eradicated 10.3 million cannabis plants in 2010. Most (94%) of these plants were outdoor-grown, and 46% of those were discovered on federal lands, primarily on national forests in California, Oregon, and Washington. We developed models that reveal how drug markets, policies, and environmental conditions affect grow siting decisions. The models were built on a rational choice theoretical structure, and utilized data describing 2322 cannabis grow locations (2004–2012) and 9324 absence locations in the states' national forests. Predictor variables included cannabis market prices, law enforcement density, and socioeconomic, demographic, and environmental variables.We also used the …

Commenting On Cannabis: Testing News Fragmentation Using Reader Comments On California's Proposition 19, John D. Beecham

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

This content analysis studies reader comments on news articles pertaining to the issue of California’s Proposition 19—the “Tax Cannabis Initiative” to legalize marijuana. It investigates whether these reader message boards are consistent with news fragmentation theory, by examining whether the distribution of “yes” and “no” opinion on alternative media sites’ message boards is more homogenous than the distribution of opinions on mainstream news sites’ message boards. This study also uses a thematic analysis to investigate whether the mainstream media, as represented by editorial board endorsements by daily California newspapers, influences themes used by reader comments on Proposition 19. Results show …