1 Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada; CHU Sainte-Justine, Montréal, QC, Canada. Electronic address: kira.london-nadeau@umontreal.ca.
2 Nipissing University, North Bay, ON, Canada.
3 School of Public Health, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.
4 Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada; CHU Sainte-Justine, Montréal, QC, Canada.
5 CHU Sainte-Justine, Montréal, QC, Canada; Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.
6 Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, AB, Canada.
7 School of Public Health, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada; Centre de Recherche en Santé Publique, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
8 CHU Sainte-Justine, Montréal, QC, Canada; Department of Pediatrics, Université de Montréal, Montréal QC, Canada.
9 Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada; Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.
10 Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
11 The Get Sensible Project, Canada.
12 Project VoxCann, Canada.
13 Project VoxCann, Canada; Department of Political Science, Concordia University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
14 Simone de Beauvoir Institute, Concordia University, Montréal, QC, Canada; École Sans Police, Montréal, QC, Canada.
15 CHU Sainte-Justine, Montréal, QC, Canada; School of Psychoeducation, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.

Background: Queer and trans (QT) youth report higher rates of cannabis use than their cisgender and heterosexual peers. Explanations for this have overwhelmingly focused on the difficulties QT youth face, while little research has examined how cannabis use can relate to QT youth's strengths. We sought to explore how cannabis use could be involved in the experiences of QT youth from a strengths-based perspective.

Methods: We conducted a QT youth-led, community-based study composed of 27 semi-structured interviews with QT young adults aged 21-25 years and living in Québec who use(d) cannabis regularly. Through reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019), we used a strengths-based lens informed by the Minority Strengths Model (Perrin et al., 2020) to explore how cannabis use featured in participants' efforts to survive and thrive.

Results: We generated three themes representing how cannabis featured in participants' efforts to survive and thrive. First, cannabis was used to facilitate the production of an authentic QT self, a process that involved self-discovery, introspection, exploration, awareness, and expression. Cannabis supported, accompanied, and/or complicated this process. Second, cannabis use (and non-use) was involved in building QT community and connection, which constituted a crux of participants' wellbeing. Third, cannabis was used to face adversity, such as marginalization, QT oppression, mental health challenges, and structural under-resourcing. This adversity contrasted experiences of QT identities themselves, which were described as a source of joy and pride.

Conclusion: Our analysis illustrates many ways in which cannabis use (and non-use) features in QT youth's efforts to survive and thrive. As a result, we encourage loved ones, clinicians, researchers and policy makers to adopt a view of QT cannabis use that is expansive and inclusive of QT youth's strengths.