Recreational use of cannabis among youths in Hong Kong

Abstract

This research studies the high level of acceptance, preferences and legal issues (i.e. decriminalization and legalization policies) of recreational use of cannabis among youth users in Hong Kong. Six cannabis users were interviewed to collate data pertaining to the research areas. The data suggested that peer influences and media are the main elements which affect young people from getting in touch with cannabis, leading them to a more permissive attitude and prefer to take cannabis against other drugs. Peer influences are powerful among young cannabis users. They are willing to take cannabis with friends even though they had come across the negative impacts brought by it, like a bad trip and overdose, which are hard to overcome. Besides, media could disseminate messages to all people directly and instantly nowadays. However, there is not much supervision on monitoring the credibility of the posted information online. The materials we found on the Internet might be neither accurate nor complete, which may mislead the readers of the actual effects of cannabis.