A look back on the fifth anniversary of legalized cannabis in Canada said the overall prevalence of cannabis use in Canada's population has increased by roughly five per cent, while daily use of cannabis is relatively stable.
The article was published this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) and comments on the overall impact of Canada becoming the first G-20 nation to legalize the nonmedical use of cannabis for adults, in October of 2018. The article was peer reviewed.
In October 2018, recreational use of cannabis was legalized in Canada with the primary objectives of improving cannabis-related public health and safety, reducing youth access to cannabis, and reducing cannabis-related crime and illegal markets, said the CMAJ article.
Five years after policy implementation, available evidence suggests that outcomes related to health — such as the prevalence of cannabis use, cannabis-related emergency department visits and admissions to hospital and cannabis-impaired driving — have mostly increased or remained steady.
Data on some important health indicators are unavailable, the article said.
National survey data (Health Canada) monitoring cannabis usage before and after cannabis legalization showed an increase in the prevalence of cannabis use (from 22 per cent in 2017 to 27 per cent in 2022), although rates of near-daily to daily use remained relatively stable (24–25 per cent), said the article.
The medical journal commentary said the Canadian cannabis experience in the past five years has been watched closely and there has been mixed reaction as to whether it was successful. It said the social justice benefits appear to be more tangibly substantive than the health benefits.
Therefore, rigorous, continued monitoring of key policy outcome indicators — such as the prevalence of adult, youth and high-risk use, and major acute and long-term health harms (e.g., cannabis use disorder; cannabis-related injuries, hospital admissions or emergency department visits), in addition to primary social, crime (e.g., concerning cannabis markets) and other socioeconomic indicators — is essential.
Studies have mostly shown increased cannabis-related emergency department presentations and admissions to hospital over the course of legalization, said the article.
For example, a time-series analysis found a 20-per-cent increase in emergency department presentations for cannabis-related disorders and poisonings among youth in Ontario and Alberta.
Studies have mostly shown increased cannabis-related emergency department presentations and admissions to hospital over the course of legalization. The information for the Ontario-Alberta findings was based on emergency department data from 1 April 2015 to 31 December 2019.
A full text version of the commentary is available online.
Len Gillis covers health care and mining for Sudbury.com.
