Over 26,000 Cannabis Products Online Make Health Claims, Often Unverified | Research

The takeaway

An analysis of 624,805 cannabis products on two major US marketplaces found that over 26,000 listings made specific health benefit claims, most commonly for mood disorders, pain, and sleep.

Cannabis regulators, consumer protection advocates, researchers studying cannabis marketing and public health.

26,000+ cannabis products on two US marketplaces make specific health benefit claims

What the researchers found

Among 624,805 cannabis product listings on Leafly and Weedmaps, 1.9% and 4.47% respectively included specific health benefit claims. The top 5 advertised benefits were mood disorders, general discomfort, general wellness, sleep disorders, and chronic conditions. Among consumer reviews of products with health claims, 82.4% expressed positive sentiment toward the claimed health benefit.

Why it matters

Unverified health claims on cannabis product listings could mislead consumers into using cannabis for conditions where evidence is limited or absent. The scale of this phenomenon (26,000+ products) highlights a regulatory gap in the cannabis marketplace.

The numbers in context

624,805 unique products analyzed; 998 (1.9%) Leafly and 25,671 (4.47%) Weedmaps listings had health claims; 295 consumer reviews (4.6%) expressed sentiment about health claims; 82.4% positive, 14.6% negative, 3.1% neutral sentiment.

How the study worked

Four-phase exploratory analysis: data mining of Leafly (50,951 products) and Weedmaps (573,854 products) US listings, text matching and content coding for health claims, consumer review sentiment analysis, and ANOVA testing differences in claims by route of administration.

What this study cannot tell us

Only two platforms were analyzed, which may not represent all cannabis retail. Text matching may miss indirect health claims or marketing language that implies benefits without explicit claims. Cannot verify whether products actually deliver the claimed benefits.

How to read the evidence

Moderate: Large-scale data mining of real marketplace listings provides robust descriptive evidence, though the cross-sectional design and platform-limited scope prevent broader generalization.

When this study was published

Published in 2025, reflecting current marketplace conditions.

The bigger picture

As cannabis markets mature, the gap between marketing claims and scientific evidence remains a significant consumer protection issue. This study provides the first large-scale quantification of health claims in the US cannabis marketplace, a space that operates largely outside FDA advertising regulations.

Questions still open

How do consumers' purchasing decisions change based on health claims? Are products with health claims more likely to be purchased than those without? What regulatory frameworks could address unverified health claims in legal cannabis markets?

Common questions

Are cannabis companies allowed to make health claims?

Cannabis products exist in a regulatory gray area. The FDA prohibits health claims for CBD products, and state-legal cannabis products are not FDA-approved. Despite this, this study found thousands of products making specific health claims on major online marketplaces.

What were the most common health claims?

The five most common categories of health benefit claims were treatment of mood disorders, general discomfort, general wellness, sleep disorders, and chronic conditions.

Read the original research

Exploratory analysis of United States-based cannabis product health benefit claims on online marketplaces.

Addiction (Abingdon, England), 120(12), 2489-2499

View on PubMed ↗Publisher’s paper ↗

Citation

Nali, Matthew C; Larsen, Meng Zhen; Li, Zhuoran; Li, Jiawei; Roehler, Douglas R; Mallory, Vanessa; Mackey, Tim K. (2025). Exploratory analysis of United States-based cannabis product health benefit claims on online marketplaces.. Addiction (Abingdon, England), 120(12), 2489-2499. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.70177