title: Twitter chatter about marijuana.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We sought to examine the sentiment and themes of marijuana-related chatter on Twitter sent by influential Twitter users and to describe the demographics of these Twitter users.
  
  
  METHODS
  We assessed the sentiment and themes of a random sample (n = 7,000) of influential marijuana-related tweets (sent from February 5, 20114, to March 5, 2014). Demographics of the users tweeting about marijuana were inferred using a social media analytics company (Demographics Pro for Twitter).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most marijuana-related tweets reflected a positive sentiment toward marijuana use, with pro-marijuana tweets outnumbering anti-marijuana tweets by a factor of greater than 15. The most common theme of pro-marijuana tweets included the Tweeter stating that he/she wants/plans to use marijuana, followed by tweeting about frequent/heavy/or regular marijuana use, and that marijuana has health benefits and/or should be legalized. Tweeters of marijuana-related content were younger and a greater proportion was African-American compared with the Twitter average.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Marijuana Twitter chatter sent by influential Twitter users tends to be pro-marijuana and popular among African-Americans and youth/young adults. Marijuana-related harms may afflict some individuals; therefore, our findings should be used to inform online and offline prevention efforts that work to target individuals who are most at risk for harms associated with marijuana use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri. Electronic address: rehgp@psychiatry.wustl.edu.
authors.forename: Patricia A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Cavazos-Rehg
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krauss
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Sherri L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Salyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Grucza
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Laura Jean
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Bierut
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002188:Cannabis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008385:Marijuana Smoking; D061108:Social Media; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Marijuana; Social media; Youth