
This study employs Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) techniques to analyze social media sentiment regarding cannabis legalization in Germany on April 1, 2024, focusing specifically on Reddit content. The methodology involves data collection, cleaning, clustering, and sentiment analysis using natural language processing. This research utilizes sentence transformer models for text embedding and K-means clustering algorithms to identify distinct perspectives on legalization. Sentiment analysis was conducted using a pretrained BERT-based model developed by Hugging Face. The results revealed seven distinct clusters representing different themes and sentiments regarding cannabis legalization. Public opinion tended to be positive, indicating general support for cannabis legalization despite some expectations. This research demonstrates the value of OSINT in social media analysis while providing valuable insights for researchers and policymakers regarding public sentiment on cannabis legalization.
Berfin Ebrar Atabey, Resul Bedii Gümüş, Franziska Schwarz, Klaus Schwarz, Reiner Creutzburg, "OSINT Investigation of Social Media for Classifying Reactions to Cannabis Legalization" in Electronic Imaging, 2025, pp 327-1 - 327-9, https://doi.org/10.2352/EI.2025.37.3.MOBMU-327