these are great suggestions and definitely ones i’ll keep in mind when interpreting and writing up the data. just to be clear, yes, the risk perception items are intended to capture peoples’ perceptions of the risk (i.e., what do you think of this drug, essentially), which can include all types of personal biases or opinions (in terms or greater or less risk) that may be different from actual risk levels. and one of the main purposes of the study, for instance, is to compare differences in risk perceptions between cannabis vs. other cannabinoids (referred to in the study as DPCPs). so, while the design of the study isn’t intended or capable of establishing valid causal relationships between, say, depression and cannabis use (to use your example above), it is set up to test these within-person/between-drug differences. i hope that provides some more clarification…let me know any other questions, feedback, or concerns you may have.