DE LAS FACULTADES Y OBLIGACIONES DEL AYUNTAMIENTO

purchasing cannabis and how and when they used it. 4.3.4.1 Cannabis frequency of use

Cannabis frequency is difficult to assess and interpret. Due to varying quantities used in joints, different strengths of cannabis strains, the ways in which cannabis is often used and shared in a social environments, among other factors, traditional estimates of number of days, or number of joints do not provide a clear picture of use behaviour. Therefore, participants were asked to describe their frequency of use generally and how their own use behaviour varied.

“It depends. I’m up and down at the moment with my cannabis use. One week I could be smoking every day, and then I could two weeks without it, and then I could go a month on it, It’s up and down really.” (Participant 2; female)

“In a day, at most like 12 spliffs, so like a 10, like an eighth a day.” (Participant 6; female) “Once a week maybe, if that.” (Participant 10; male)

“I use less weed, that’s what makes people paranoid when you put loads of weed in that’s why I only put a little bit in.” (Participants 11; male)

4.3.4.2 Negotiation of use with responsibilities

The ways in which cannabis use negotiated their use in their daily lives provided insight into how they managed their experiences and balanced this with their other responsibilities. Most

participants reported that their use was negotiated with their other responsibilities, like work and school. The negotiation of cannabis use behaviour around responsibilities does not, as reported below, necessarily indicate that use was considered any less problematic. However, participants who had fewer responsibilities tended to describe more intensive daily use sessions. Some participants also described how their cannabis changed from a social activity, to one that they engaged in to relax, or help them sleep.

“After work, or college or uni, yeah.” (Participant 2; female)

“It’s mostly, when I wake in the morning I have one, and then it’s like after 12 o’clock, after midday, it’d be like in between 1 and 3 in the morning, one after another all the way through.” (Participant 4; male)

“Yeah, definitely, when I first started it was during the day when we was chilling out, now if I have spliff it will be before I go to bed and go sleep.” (Participant 7; male)

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4.3.4.3 Cannabis purchasing frequency

Most respondents reported purchasing cannabis nearly every day, and often from friends or dealers. Cannabis purchasing behaviour provides insight into their use environment, and how use decisions are made and how, in an unregulated market, knowledge of cannabis content is negotiated.

Participants described the frequency of their purchasing behaviour and from whom they purchased. Most participants reported frequent cannabis purchase, with daily or every few days, and purchased from the same few, trusted sources. The information presented on cannabis purchasing frequency was also informed by cannabis ‘knowledge’ and potency preferences.

“Yeah, because it was like, only when…when I first started I only had a couple of drags, then I started like smoking more like, getting a 10 bag. A 10 bag would last me before about a week and then I went up to, I was smoking about 60 pounds worth a day.” (Participant 2; female)

“Every few days, 10 bags.” (Participant 3; female)

“The weed I was getting, you know when I first started smoking weed it gets you stoned quicker, doesn’t it? But then, gradually, after a while you been smoking, you need more of a spliff, so you’d get more weed to put in the spliff. Every week, I’d be spending like 300 quid every two weeks…..” (Participant 4; male)

“Every day, 10 pounds worth a day, at least, if I can get my hands on more, I’d get more, I smoke it with other people as well, so I’d smoke my 10 pounds, and then obviously, I’d smoke it with other people so I’d be consuming more than just my 10 pounds.”(Participant 9; female)

In addition to reporting frequent purchasing of cannabis, most participants reported that they typically used the same few, trusted sources, while a minority of participants reported an expansive cannabis network.

“Quite a lot, well 10 people or something like that.” (Participant 3; female)

“Different. Sometimes, like, when I used to do it kind of thing I’d always just take mine, but then I stopped it for good reason, because I’ve seen so many of my mates getting nicked and they asked me to put tents [for the growing of cannabis] in me flat and set up and I was like no. But then, umm, I go to the same one usually, but then sometimes he doesn’t have like good weed in, so umm after going to the same dealer mostly, but it’s just weird like I could leave here and go to the same person if he has nothing and go down the street and go to another one street and just keep knocking and knocking until I find one.” (Participant 4; male)

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