Weeding out the information: an ethnographic approach to exploring how young people make sense of the evidence on cannabis.

Background: Contradictory evidence on cannabis adds to the climate of confusion regarding the health harms related to use. This is particularly true for young people as they encounter and make sense of opposing information on cannabis. Knowledge translation (KT) is in part focused on ensuring that knowledge users have access to and understand best evidence; yet, little attention has focused on the processes youth use to weigh scientific evidence.

In the shadow of a new smoke free policy: A discourse analysis of health care providers' engagement in tobacco control in community mental health.

Background: The prevalence of tobacco use among individuals with mental illness remains a serious public health concern. Tobacco control has received little attention in community mental health despite the fact that many individuals with mental illness are heavy smokers and experience undue tobacco-related health consequences.

Methods: This qualitative study used methods of discourse analysis to examine the perceptions of health care providers, both professionals and paraprofessionals, in relation to their roles in tobacco control in the community mental health system.

Relief-oriented use of marijuana by teens.

Background: There are indications that marijuana is increasingly used to alleviate symptoms and for the treatment of a variety of medical conditions both physical and psychological. The purpose of this study was to describe the health concerns and problems that prompt some adolescents to use marijuana for therapeutic reasons, and their beliefs about the risks and benefits of the therapeutic use of marijuana.

Methods: As part of a larger ethnographic study of 63 adolescents who were regular marijuana users, we analyzed interviews conducted with 20 youth who self-identified as using marijuana to relieve or manage health problems.