Identification and Characterization of Illegal Sales of Cannabis and Nicotine Delivery Products on Telegram Messaging Platform.

Autor:	Nali MC; Department of Anesthesiology, Division of Infectious Disease and Global Public Health, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, CA, USA.; S-3 Research, San Diego, CA, USA.; Global Health Policy and Data Institute, San Diego, CA, USA., Purushothaman V; Department of Anesthesiology, Division of Infectious Disease and Global Public Health, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, CA, USA.; San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA., Li Z; S-3 Research, San Diego, CA, USA.; San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA., Larsen MZ; S-3 Research, San Diego, CA, USA.; Global Health Policy and Data Institute, San Diego, CA, USA.; San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA., Cuomo RE; Department of Anesthesiology, Division of Infectious Disease and Global Public Health, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, CA, USA.; Global Health Policy and Data Institute, San Diego, CA, USA., Yang J; Department of Public Health, California State University, Fullerton, CA, USA., Mackey TK; S-3 Research, San Diego, CA, USA.; Global Health Policy and Data Institute, San Diego, CA, USA.; Global Health Program, Department of Anthropology, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco [Nicotine Tob Res] 2024 May 22; Vol. 26 (6), pp. 771-779.
DOI:	10.1093/ntr/ntad248
Abstrakt:	Introduction: Unregulated and potentially illegal sales of tobacco, nicotine, and cannabis products have been detected on various social media platforms, e-commerce sites, online retailers, and the dark web. New end-to-end encrypted messaging services are popular among online users and present opportunities for marketing, trading, and selling of these products. The purpose of this study was to identify and characterize tobacco, nicotine, and cannabis selling activity on the messaging platform Telegram. Methods: The study was conducted in three phases: (1) identifying keywords related to tobacco, nicotine, and cannabis products for purposes of detecting Telegram groups and channel messages; (2) automated data collection from public Telegram groups; and (3) manual annotation and classification of messages engaged in marketing and selling products to consumers. Results: Four keywords were identified ("Nicotine," "Vape," "Cannabis," and "Smoke") that yielded 20 Telegram groups with 262 506 active subscribers. Total volume of channel messages was 43 963 unique messages that included 3094 (7.04%) marketing/selling messages. The most commonly sold products in these groups were cannabis-derived products (83.25%, n = 2576), followed by tobacco/nicotine-derived products (6.46%, n = 200), and other illicit drugs (0.77%, n = 24). A variety of marketing tactics and a mix of seller accounts were observed, though most appeared to be individual suppliers. Conclusions: Telegram is an online messaging application that allows for custom group creation and global connectivity, but also includes unregulated activities associated with the sale of cannabis and nicotine delivery products. Greater attention is needed to conduct monitoring and enforcement on these emerging platforms for unregulated and potentially illegal cannabis and nicotine product sales direct-to-consumer. Implications: Based on study results, Telegram represents an emerging platform that enables a robust cannabis and nicotine-selling marketplace. As local, state, and national tobacco control regulations continue to advance sales restrictions and bans at the retail level, easily accessible and unregulated Internet-based channels must be further assessed to ensure that they do not act as conduits for exposure and access to unregulated or illegal cannabis and nicotine products. (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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