Cannabis and Nicotine Dual Use among Sexual Minority Individuals: Relations to Cannabis Use and Negative Affect

Background: Sexual minority individuals report significantly more cannabis use and use-related problems than their heterosexual peers, and emerging data indicate sexual minority individuals who use cannabis are at greater risk for dual use of nicotine products (combustible smoking, e-cigarette use) than heterosexual individuals. Although cannabis-nicotine dual use is related to worse cannabis outcomes and negative affect, little work has identified factors related to dual use among sexual minority individuals or tested if sexual orientation-based discrimination (microaggressions, overt discrimination) is related to dual use. Objectives: The current study tested if cannabis-nicotine dual use is related to more frequent cannabis use, more cannabis-related problems, negative affect, and discrimination among sexual minority undergraduate students who endorsed current (past three-month) cannabis use (N = 328), 43.6% of whom endorsed dual nicotine use. Cannabis-nicotine dual use was related to more frequent cannabis use, more cannabis-related problems, more anxiety (but not depression), and more sexual orientation-based microaggressions and microaggressions-related negative affect (but not overt discrimination or non-sexual orientation-based daily stressors). Conclusions/Importance: Overall, this is the first known study to identify that sexual orientation-based discrimination is related to cannabis-nicotine dual use and that dual use is related to more frequent cannabis use, use-related problems, and negative affect (especially anxiety) among this underrepresented group.