JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

An increasing number of states have laws for the legal sale of recreational and/or medical cannabis out of brick-and-mortar retailers. Given the proliferation of cannabis outlets and the potential for their impact on local economies, neighborhood structures, and individual patterns of cannabis use, it is essential to create practical and thorough methods to capture the location of such outlets for research purposes. However, methods used by researchers vary greatly between studies and often do not include important information about the retailer’s license status and storefront signage. In this study, we detail methods for locating and observing cannabis outlets in Los Angeles County after the period of time when recreational cannabis retailers were granted licenses and allowed to be open for business. Procedures included online searches of cannabis outlet databases, followed by cleaning and verification methods that resulted in direct observations of 531 identified outlets. We found that 430 of these outlets (81%) were open for business, of which 38% were licensed to sell cannabis. Unlicensed outlets were less likely to have signage indicating the store sold cannabis, such as a green cross, which was the most prevalent form of observed signage. Co-use of cannabis and tobacco/nicotine has been found to be a substantial health concern, and we observed that 41% of cannabis outlets had a tobacco/nicotine outlet within sight of the cannabis outlet. Most cannabis outlets (81%) were located within the city of Los Angeles, and these outlets were more likely to be licensed than outlets outside the city. Finding suggest that online searches and observational methods are both necessary to best capture accurate and detailed information about cannabis outlets. Methods described here can be applied to other metropolitan areas to more accurately capture the availability of cannabis in an area.