During the COVID-19 pandemic, people may use substances like cannabis for enhancement or coping purposes. Behavioral economic demand for a substance is a key determinant of its use and misuse and can be measured via hypothetical purchase tasks. Previous research suggests that motivations to use a substance play a mediational role between elevated substance demand and problems, but comparable mechanistic research has yet to be done in the COVID-19 context and on the effects of cannabis demand on cannabis use patterns. Participants (n = 137) were recruited via the online crowdsourcing platform Prolific. Participants completed measures of cannabis use and problems, motivations for cannabis use, and the Marijuana Purchase Task. Two indices of demand, Persistence (i.e., sensitivity to increasing cost of cannabis) and Amplitude (i.e., consumption of cannabis at unrestricted cost), were related to increased cannabis problems via the use motive of coping during the COVID-19 pandemic. This model did not support the mediational role of enhancement motives. Those with increased cannabis demand who tend to use cannabis to cope are at increased risk of experiencing negative cannabis-related consequences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

在 COVID-19 大流行期间，人们可能会出于增强或应对目的使用大麻等物质。对某种物质的行为经济需求是其使用和误用的关键决定因素，可以通过假设的购买任务来衡量。先前的研究表明，使用某种物质的动机在物质需求增加和问题之间起着中介作用，但尚未在 COVID-19 背景下以及大麻需求对大麻使用模式的影响方面进行可比的机制研究。参与者 ( n = 137) 是通过在线众包平台 Prolific 招募的。参与者完成了大麻使用和问题的措施、大麻使用的动机以及大麻购买任务。两个需求指数，持久性（即对大麻成本增加的敏感性）和幅度（即以不受限制的成本消费大麻），通过在 COVID-19 大流行期间应对的使用动机与增加的大麻问题有关。该模型不支持增强动机的中介作用。那些倾向于使用大麻来应对大麻需求增加的人在 COVID-19 大流行期间经历与大麻相关的负面后果的风险增加。