Bula Kere Oda, Ermias Lulekal, Bikila Warkineh, Zemede Asfaw, Asfaw Debella
Ethnoveterinary medicinal plants and their utilization by indigenous and local communities of Dugda District, Central Rift Valley, Ethiopia
Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine
substance misuse presents significant global public health challenges understanding transitions substance types timing shifts polysubstance use vital developing effective prevention recovery strategies gateway hypothesis suggests highrisk substance use preceded lowerrisk substance use however source correlation hotly contested claim lowrisk substance use causes subsequent riskier substance use people using lowrisk substances also escalate higherrisk substances social media data hold potential shed light factors contributing substance use transitions leveraging social media data study aimed gain better understanding substance use pathways identifying analyzing transitions individuals different risk levels substance use goal find specific linguistic cues individuals social media posts could indicate escalating deescalating patterns substance use conducted largescale analysis using data reddit collected 2015 2019 consisting 229 million posts approximately 2937 million comments around 14 million users subreddits data derived substance use subreddits facilitated creation risk transition data set reflecting substance use behaviors 14 million users deployed deep learning machine learning techniques predict escalation deescalation transitions risk levels based initial transition phases documented posts comments conducted linguistic analysis analyze language patterns associated transitions substance use emphasizing role ngram features predicting future risk trajectories results showed promise predicting escalation deescalation transition risk levels based historical data reddit users created initial transition phases among drugrelated subreddits accuracy 7848 f1score 7920 highlighted vital predictive features specific substance names tools indicative future risk escalations linguistic analysis showed terms linked harm reduction strategies instrumental signaling deescalation whereas descriptors frequent substance use characteristic escalating transitions study sheds light complexities surrounding gateway hypothesis substance use examination webbased behavior reddit certain findings validate hypothesis indicating progression lowerrisk substances marijuana higherrisk ones significant number individuals show transition research underscores potential using machine learning social media analysis predict substance use transitions results point toward future directions leveraging social media data substance use research underlining importance continued exploration suggesting direct implications interventions