Canadian Cannabis Data and Trends as the Recreational Program Continues to Grow and Progress

In both the United States and Canada, the constant and generally most voiced argument in opposition to policy changes to expand legal drug programs in wither country has always been that legalizing these currently illegal drugs, or decriminalizing them, will increase the rate of consumption of these drugs. The prevailing thought seems to be that if any country, or state takes a drug that has been illegal, and regulating the industry to make it safer, taxed and accessible to more citizens, and the drug will get used by many more people. In Canada, that argument prevailed even after the Canadian government legalized Cannabis for recreational adult use. Now, after the Canadian system has been in place, evidence has begun to emerge to provide answers to whether these concerns are realistic or just a reason for opponents to push back against expanding legal programs for the use of substances like Cannabis.

One such report of evidence after Canadian legalization is from a governmental entity named StatCan. StatCan is tasked with following and reporting consumer information related to Cannabis use, and its report now demonstrates that the worry that Canadian Cannabis use would significantly increase after legalization is completely unfounded. Specifically, the report states that no more Canadians are using Cannabis than they did while it was still a prohibited substance and were obtaining Cannabis illegally.

Researching and studying the data the comes out of this burgeoning Cannabis industry and realizing the trends that come from people's consumption are all very beneficial and important for being able to start understanding the impacts of the new industry. In February of this year, StatCan released new numbers coming out of its National Cannabis Survey through the fourth quarter of 2018. This data includes trends from November and December of 2018 which were the second and third months after the program began.

During this reporting period, Canadian citizens age 15 and up reported using Cannabis at a rate of approximately 4.6 million people nationwide in the three months prior to the reporting period, equating to nearly 15% of total Canadian citizens over that age. This 15% means that Canada is the country with the most Cannabis use anywhere in the World. In the reporting period identified, the new legalized Canadian system has not done anything to increase this percentage across Canada. Since the program began, approximately 4.6 million Canadians still say they are using Cannabis.

Since these figures are from so early in the program, StatCan also included a question asking the participants over the age of 15 if they believe they will likely use Cannabis in the next three months and this number increased from about 15% to 19% With a 4% increase, the numbers from this study could demonstrate that, as the program continues, Canadian usage rates might increase. Likely this future increase would come from only those Canadians in the middle between the people who claim to be highly in favor of the program, who have a higher likelihood to already be Cannabis users, and those who are highly against the program and therefore are also very unlikely to begin using legalized Cannabis in new large numbers. The most likely increases might come from people who used to use, Cannabis or, the people who claim to currently use Cannabis but in such an infrequent amount, that they have not used Cannabis in the beginning of the new program.

With there still being about a 15% usage rate, the number of people using Cannabis is far less important currently than the new information coming from this report in the type of use in Canada. There are two major categories of use in Canada, people who use it for non-medical purposes and those who use it with a medical certification.

The StatCan report demonstrates that in the beginning of the legalized Cannabis program, people who refer to themselves as medical Cannabis patients generally use Cannabis nearly every day or daily in a much higher percentage and they are more likely to consume Cannabis in other ways than smoking it.

Almost 50% of all people who responded to the survey stated that they use Cannabis only recreationally and then about 25% said they use it only medically and the last quarter of respondents said they use it both recreationally and for medicinal reasons.

The final information learned from this early report is about the spending in each category. The results show that medical Cannabis users consume it in the highest rates, or they report to use it more than those who consume it recreationally. The report also shows that Canadian trends are similar to the trends in other legal Cannabis industries in various states in the United States. For example, Canadian men use Cannabis more than women and generally use it more for recreational, rather than medical purposes. Other Canadian trends are different than other similar programs. In Canada, eighteen to 24 year olds have bought the most Cannabis in the first few months of the program, compared to the United States where the highest rates of Cannabis spending are for people in generation X and baby boomers.

As this program in Canada matures, more data will be collected by governmental agencies like StatCan and therefore more trends over time will become apparent. For now, most of the data do suggest that no large changes are currently happening in Canada related to overall usage but it does seem that spending in the new recreational industry is increasing while the medicinal program continues to also remain strong.

RG StaffJanuary 23, 2019