Drug Use and Social Media

Drug use content in social media may have a profound impact on initiating or continuing illegal and legal drug use, but there is currently no systematic research on the role of social media in promoting and facilitating drug use in club settings, and how social media use around drug use differs across different social and demographic groups.

In collaboration with FIU’s Center for Research on US Latino HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse and as part of a subcontract of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded research project, Drs. María Elena Villar and Weiriu Wang are conducting research on the use and impact of social media on drug use among Hispanic club-goers in Miami.

The project titled “Communicating about drug use among Hispanic club-goers in Miami: Assessing the impact of social media on drug-related risks” involves focus groups and survey research with Hispanic members of club culture to find out the use and impact of social media on drug use.

This study will explore to what extent factors such as health disparities and socio-economic factors, as well as social media exposure to drug content, influence drug use risks, behaviors and consequences and to what extent these factors interact with each other to create these influences.