Five years subsequent to Canada’s historic decision to decriminalize recreational cannabis in 2018, the impacts of this policy shift on public health objectives and reformation of justice systems present a mixed bag, say researchers.
An insightful report from the Canadian Medical Association Journal sheds light on a trend that has unfolded in the past few years: A significant decline in incriminating activities associated with cannabis use coupled with rising health apprehensions. “The anticipated public health disaster by opponents of cannabis legalization in Canada seems to have been averted, nevertheless, it cannot be definitively marked as an undisputed triumph for public health,” observe the authors of the study.
Statistics Canada has noted stable cannabis consumption among its daily users since legalization, yet an overall upsurge in cannabis use from 22% to 27% among Canadians aged 16 and older has been recorded from 2017 to 2022. Remarkably, cannabis use among Canadian youth remains flat with figures being consistent at around 37% for 16 to 19-year-olds for the years 2018 and 2022.
Legalization does appear to have had some unintended consequences, one of which is a 20% increase in emergencies credited to cannabis-related disorders and poisoning among youth in Ontario and Alberta. A separate report that studied unintentional cannabis poisoning from edibles among children in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec, recorded a high rise in emergency visits post-edibles legalization in 2019.
Cannabis-linked pediatric hospitalizations have been reported 581 times since 2015 – initially 105 during the first 14 months of legalization and subsequently 356 during the first 19 months post-edibles legalization.
On a more positive note, the frequency of Canadians purchasing illegally produced cannabis has significantly receded since legalization – with two-thirds of users procuring cannabis products from legal sources now. Furthermore, levels of driving impairment due to cannabis use have either negligibly decreased or stabilized in most parts of the country, with British Columbia being the exception where rates of impaired drivers showed an increase between 2018 and 2020.
A separate report out of the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction finds an astonishing 97% drop in cannabis possession charges among youth between 2015 and 2019. Trafficking and sales charges have also shown a decrease in this demographic, sliding from 12% to 8%.
The authors of the study conclude that while the outcome of non-medicinal cannabis legalization in Canada reveals a combination of success and setbacks, the policy’s full impact on Canadians can’t be judged just from the last five years. For an efficacious evaluation of policy outcomes, robust data integration methods are hinged upon to inform evidence-based adjustments for potentially serving the public health objectives of cannabis legalization in Canada more effectively in the future.
