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One In Five Canadian Arthritis Patients Acknowledge Using Medical Cannabis

Written by Frank Schuler on June 15, 2022. Posted in Archives, Science.

It is estimated that as many as 350 million people around the globe suffer from arthritis. Arthritis is defined as painful inflammation and stiffness of the joints.

The condition is particularly prevalent in North America. In the United States alone it is estimated that 1 out of every 4 adults suffers from arthritis to some degree, with some cases being extreme.

More and more arthritis patients are turning to the cannabis plant for relief, as demonstrated by the results of a recent study in Canada. Below is more information about it via a news release from NORML:

Toronto, Ontario: Arthritis patients frequently reported consuming cannabis for symptomatic relief, according to survey data published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology.

A team of Canadian investigators surveyed 799 patients at eight rheumatology clinics in Ontario. (Cannabis is legal in Canada for both medical purposes and for adults.)

Just over 20 percent of those surveyed acknowledged either having consumed cannabis within the past two years or being current users of cannabis products. Compared to non-users, those who consumed cannabis were more likely to be younger and were more likely to report suffering from severe pain.

Cannabis consumers reported using it to treat pain, anxiety, and to promote sleep. Seventy-eight percent of them reported medical cannabis to be “at least somewhat effective” at mitigating their symptoms.

The study’s findings are consistent with French survey data, published in 2021, which reported that “nearly 20 percent of patients suffering from rheumatologic diseases actively consume cannabis.”

Longitudinal data published in April reported that osteoarthritis patients decrease their daily opioid intake and experience improvements in their overall quality of life following the initiation of medical cannabis therapy. Authors of the study concluded: “Our findings indicate that providing access to MC [medical cannabis], helps patients with chronic pain due to OA [osteoarthritis] reduce their levels of opioid usage in addition to improving pain and QoL [quality of life]. Furthermore, a majority of patients did not feel intoxicated or high from MC, and of those who did, only a small percentage said it interfered with their daily activities. … Our findings support the literature in that MC reduces the use of opioids for the treatment of chronic pain.”

Full text of the study, “Medical cannabis use by rheumatology patients in routine clinical care: Results from the Ontario Best Practices Research Initiative,” appears in Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology. Additional information on cannabis and rheumatoid arthritis is available from NORML.

arthritis, Canada

British Columbia Decriminalizes Drugs – Is This A New Global Trend?

Written by Marguerite Arnold on June 7, 2022. Posted in Archives, Policy.

A federal exemption has allowed this Canadian province to decriminalize not only small amounts of MDMA (ecstasy) but opioids, cocaine, and methamphetamine.

History will certainly regard Canada not to mention this period of time as a forerunner in the new wave of drug legalization. First, there was cannabis. Then the discussion about other psychedelics like psilocybin began to bloom (and in multiple places). Now, British Columbia has announced that all “hard” drugs will be decriminalized in the province.

This is not a federal, but state decision. There won’t be any formal infrastructure set up. One cannot obtain any of these drugs via legal brick and mortars set up by the government to dispense the same. However, people will no longer be arrested for possessing under 2.5 grams of any of these substances.

The Federal Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Carolyn Bennett, said that the move by the province was in line with a federal priority to curtail opioid deaths. BC had 2,224 drug overdose deaths last year. Those statistics have also gone in absolutely the wrong direction since 2016. 10,000 people have died since 2016.

This new “exemption” begins at the end of January next year and runs until January 2026, unless extended further – or – depending on results – canceled.

Loopholes and Semantics?

It is not like other countries have not tried this approach before. See Portugal and Holland – for starters. Both of these countries have had mixed results.

In Portugal, all drugs were legalized after the repressive regime of Franco ended. That said, Portuguese law has also rolled back some of these “freedoms” based on their impact on public health. Today, the country has one of the most exciting cannabis cultivation markets in Europe.

In Holland, the famous laissez-faire attitude toward soft drug use created the first modern cannabis industry in the world that was at least widely tolerated if not always enthusiastically so. This is still true today, no matter how much there also seems to be a trend to reinvent the cannabis industry domestically.

However, there is another discussion now floating about the room – starting in Mexico but also showing up in places like London if not Austria of late. Namely that this kind of petty interdiction is expensive, not to mention tends to unfairly impact certain demographics. Plus of course, has constitutional implications.

At a time when the expenses incurred by governments in the name of public health have exploded, and Pandemic-related measures have infringed on personal liberties more than they have since the last global pandemic a century ago, it may be that simple issues like decrim are par for the course in a new post Pandemic era.

british columbia, Canada

Taxes And Provincial Mark-Ups Are Hindering Ontario’s Cannabis Industry

Written by Johnny Green on June 4, 2022. Posted in Archives, Business, Policy.

The main motivation behind legalizing cannabis for adult and/or medical use should always be based on it simply being the right thing to do. No one should ever be penalized for using/possessing a plant that is 114 times safer than alcohol.

With that being said, the reality of the situation is that creating a regulated industry for the purpose of generating public revenue is a driving force behind support for legalization around the globe for better or worse.

Taking the profit away from criminal enterprises and essentially re-routing it to a regulated system in which some profits benefit society is a winning political message, and if actually achieved, a great thing. However, it’s predicated on people actually making purchases from regulated sources rather than unregulated ones, and the transition is far from automatic.

Surveys and polls have consistently found that cost is a major factor for consumers and patients, which is not exactly shocking because that is basically true of any product. But unlike most products, there are a lot of unregulated options when it comes to cannabis, and in most cases, unregulated cannabis is significantly cheaper than regulated cannabis.

Various reports have been published regarding the average price for regulated and unregulated cannabis in Ontario and other parts of Canada, and while the price for regulated cannabis seems to be pretty consistent being that it can be easily tracked, the price for unregulated cannabis often seems to be inflated in my opinion.

I spend an ungodly amount of time online talking to consumers all over the world, and I have yet to find someone in Ontario that pays the prices for unregulated cannabis that are being reported for what that is worth.

It’s a safe assumption that for every extra dollar that gets added to the price of regulated cannabis a certain chunk of the consumer base then gets lost to the unregulated market. With that in mind, the fact that roughly half of the price of regulated cannabis products in Ontario is due to taxes and provincial mark-ups is obviously a problem and will always hinder the legal industry.

This is not to say that there should be no government profit at all. Regulatory oversight is not free, so there needs to be enough money to safely administer sensible industry regulations, and to some extent, put cannabis industry revenues to work helping society in various ways.

However, there needs to be a balance struck to help ensure that regulated cannabis is truly competitive with unregulated cannabis. Regulated cannabis will never be as cheap to produce as unregulated cannabis, but it needs to be close enough that consumers feel comfortable paying a little extra for a product that they know is tested and safe.

Canada, ontario

Researchers Identify Two Main Motivating Factors Behind Unregulated Cannabis Purchases

Written by Johnny Green on May 26, 2022. Posted in Archives, Business, Policy.

Legal cannabis is spreading across the planet, and with it, purchasing freedoms for some consumers. Yet, the unregulated market still exists even where cannabis can be purchased legally. Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario recently examined the factors that motivate a consumer or patient to purchase unregulated cannabis versus regulated cannabis in North America in an attempt to understand why the unregulated market still exists in Canada despite legalization, and to a lesser extent, the United States.

By human history standards, cannabis prohibition is a relatively new thing. After all, cannabis is not a new plant and humans have used it for medical and recreational purposes for centuries. It wasn’t until the last century that political forces prohibited it. Fortunately, three countries have now legalized cannabis for adult use – Uruguay, Canada, and Malta. Cannabis can be legally acquired in some form in Uruguay and Canada, and soon, Malta.

Out of the three countries, Canada has the most robust industry model. Cannabis consumers of legal age from anywhere around the planet can come to Canada and make a legal purchase through a storefront dispensary, through the mail, and/or through delivery services. Similar options have existed in the U.S. at the state level for many years. Researchers have kept a close eye on North America as the ‘cannabis experiment’ has continued to roll out, including researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.

Motivating Factors

The average cannabis consumer is more sophisticated now than arguably any other time in human history, and that is largely due to the options available to them, particularly in Canada. Some consumers want to smoke cannabis flower, some want to vaporize it, and still, many others prefer smokeless forms of cannabis such as edibles and topicals.

Regulated industries boost the options for patients and consumers. I live in a legal jurisdiction, and the different types of cannabis products and consumption methods are exponentially greater now compared to when there was no regulated market With that being said, the unregulated market still exists where I live, albeit at a much lower level than before legalization.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario looked at consumer data from 2019 and 2020. The data was compiled as part of the annual International Cannabis Policy Study. Survey data asked consumers about their purchasing habits over the past 12 months, and when they indicated that they purchased cannabis from an unregulated source they were provided a list of reasons to select from regarding what motivated the unregulated purchase.

“‘Legal sources had higher prices’ was the number-one answer in Canada in both years (35.9% in 2019, 34.6% in 2020) as well as in the United States (27.3% in 2019, 26.7% in 2020). Convenience (both ‘legal sources were less convenient’ and ‘legal stores were too far away/there are none where I live’) was high on the list as well, with the percentage of respondents who named these as reasons ranging from 10.6% to 19.8%.” researchers stated in their press release.

Sensible Regulations To Help Boost Legal Sales

On average, the cost of legal cannabis will always be greater than unregulated cannabis. A legal cannabis company has to pay ongoing licensing and compliance fees, rent on their commercial facilities, and a number of other operational costs that do not exist in the unregulated market. All of those added layers contribute to the overall cost of legal cannabis.

Speaking anecdotally, I am willing to pay extra for legal cannabis being that it is tested and regulated. However, there is a point to how much more I am willing to pay, and I assume many consumers are the same as me in that regard. Paying 10% more is reasonable, however, if legal cannabis costs 2-4 times as much as unregulated cannabis, clearly many people will choose to go the unregulated route.

The second motivating factor identified by the researchers, convenience, is much easier to address from a public policy standpoint. Boosting the ways in which consumers and patients can legally acquire cannabis helps a considerable amount. Conversely, the fewer ways people can legally acquire cannabis the more it creates opportunities for unregulated sources to fill the void and meet the demand. Jurisdictions that choose to cling to prohibition or hinder safe access do so at their own peril.

Lawmakers around the world need to do everything that they can to strike the right balance between regulating cannabis, generating public revenue, and implementing sensible regulations that help keep the cost of legal cannabis down as much as reasonably possible. Everyone needs to temper their expectations when it comes to getting rid of the unregulated market. Just as there will always be a market for unregulated alcohol, so too will there always be an unregulated market for cannabis, at least to some degree.

Canada, united states

Ontario Cannabis Store Data Breach Demonstrates Growing Threat

Written by Johnny Green on May 15, 2022. Posted in Archives, Business.

I have worked in the cannabis industry to some degree for many years now. If you count the unregulated industry here in Oregon, I am the third generation of my family to be involved with cannabis.

If there is one thing that I know about the emerging cannabis industry it’s that cannabis and chaos seem to go hand-in-hand. Laws. Rules. Regulations. Juggling all of it while all of the parts are moving and shifting, all the while trying to be innovative and effective at running a business. There is a lot that cannabis entrepreneurs and their employees have to stay on top of and it can be like trying to drink water from a fire hydrant.

One area of the emerging cannabis industry that seems to often get lost in all of the chaos is information security, which is unfortunate. When people think of information security, they often think of computers and networks, and rightfully so. Computer networks often house a significant amount of sensitive information.

However, there is far more to information security than computers and networks. Companies and employees in the cannabis industry often house more sensitive information than people realize in both digital and physical forms, including personally identifiable information and proprietary information. All of that information is a target for someone.

Whereas network security can be easily outsourced to a reputable third party, the biggest threat to a cannabis company’s information security strategy has to be addressed on an ongoing basis in-house because that threat is the company’s own staff, either due to nefarious intent or negligence.

A cannabis company can have the most robust technical safeguards in place, with a small army of network security experts doing everything they can to keep something secure, and it only takes one person with privileged access to give up some or even all of the company’s sensitive information via less-than-sophisticated methods.

The latest example of the growing information security issue facing the emerging cannabis industry can be found in Canada where a suspected data breach is making headlines. Per Infotel:

The Ontario Cannabis Store says a data breach involving some of its sales information is being investigated by the Ontario Provincial Police.

Daffyd Roderick, a spokesperson for the Crown agency responsible for distributing cannabis from producers to pot shops in the province, confirmed what he called a misappropriation of data Tuesday evening.

“There was no failure of IT security or systems,” he added.

An OCS letter obtained by The Canadian Press and sent to retailers on May 10 said that “confidential store sales data” was being “circulated in the industry.”

“This data was not disclosed by the OCS, nor have we provided any permission or consent to distribute or use this data outside of our organization,” reads the letter signed by Janet Ihm, the OCS vice-president of wholesale partnerships and customer care.

“The data was misappropriated, disclosed, and distributed unlawfully. As a result, we trust you will refrain from sharing or using this stolen data in any way.”

As noted by authorities in the excerpt, the data breach did not come as a result of a failure of ‘IT security or systems,’ meaning, it wasn’t a direct hack into the system. Many details are still unknown, however, I would personally bet a decent chunk of change that the breach was due to non-sophisticated methods.

One of the most common ways that data breaches occur is through human error. Sometimes someone from the data source sends an email to an auto-populated wrong email address in error. Sometimes they click the wrong attachment when sending an email and the data is acquired that way, or they click ‘reply all’ when they shouldn’t have. Although, that doesn’t seem to be the case in Ontario where the ‘data was not disclosed by the OCS.’ I take that to include no direct disclosures even due to human error.

Perhaps the data was gained through some type of physical theft. When I read the word ‘misappropriated’ that is where my mind went based on the currently available information. All it would take is someone copying one or more files to a digital storage medium (disc, thumb drive, phone, etc.) containing the data in question, and simply walking off with it. Everyone has a phone in their pocket these days, and taking a picture of sensitive information is very easy to do.

Regardless of how the data was obtained in this latest case, the case itself serves as a reminder that the cannabis industry is a popular target. The industry has so much money flowing through it, it’s so competitive, and many in the industry seem to be unaware of the amount of sensitive information that they have at their fingertips. The problem will only continue to get worse.

Everyone in the cannabis industry needs to be mindful of information security threats, trends, and tactics. Companies need to train their staff, continue to educate members of their organization and create effective information security policies. One silver lining in all of this is that it creates many opportunities for ancillary companies that can help cannabis companies and organizations with their information security strategies.

Canada, information security, ontario

Canadian Patients With Insomnia Report Improvements With Medical Cannabis

Written by Johnny Green on May 13, 2022. Posted in Archives, Science.

Insomnia is a condition in which people have a hard time falling asleep and/or staying asleep, and it is one of the most common health conditions found around the globe.

The condition can have a tremendously negative impact on a person’s life, making nearly every aspect of life harder, especially among people with severe cases of insomnia.

Various medications exist to help treat insomnia, including prescription medications. Many of them can yield horrible side effects and the ones that don’t are often ineffective at treating insomnia.

Researchers in Canada recently explored the relationship between the cannabis plant and insomnia, and the results of the study are encouraging. Below is more information about it via a news release from NORML:

Ottawa, Canada: Patients with insomnia and other sleep disorders report subjective improvements following the use of cannabis and a significant percentage of them report being able to either reduce or discontinue their use of prescription medications, according to data published in the Canadian Pharmacists Journal.

Canadian investigators assessed the impact of marijuana on sleep disorders in a cohort of 38 patients authorized to access medical cannabis products. Patients were assessed at baseline and then three months after initiating cannabis.

Investigators reported that 71 percent of patients experienced subjective improvement in their sleep. Thirty-nine percent of the study’s subjects were able to either “completely discontinue [their use of] insomnia medications or reduce their use from nightly administration to as-needed administration with the use of medical cannabis.”

The study’s results are consistent with other observational studies, such as those here and here, finding that patients with sleep disorders typically experience improvements in their symptoms from cannabis.

Authors concluded, “[O]ngoing clinical trials of cannabinoids in patients living with insomnia are integral to ensuring evidence-based decisions on the role of cannabinoid therapies in the treatment of sleep disorders.”

Full text of the study, “Cannabis use in patients with insomnia and sleep disorders: Retrospective chart review,” appears in theCanadian Pharmacists Journal.

Canada, insomnia

Canadian Cannabis Consumers Report Improvements In Insomnia

Written by Frank Schuler on May 7, 2022. Posted in Archives, Science.

Insomnia is one of the most prevalent health conditions around the world. It is estimated that as many as 60% of the world’s population suffers from insomnia to some degree.

The inability to fall asleep or stay asleep, which is the essential definition of insomnia, can be caused by a number of factors, including but not limited to depression, anxiety, lack of exercise, a different health condition, and/or side effects from various medications.

For most sufferers of insomnia, the main negative impact on their life is that they are constantly tired. However, it can also contribute to major health issues such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

A team of researchers in Canada recently conducted a study involving depression and anxiety patients that suffer from insomnia to see if cannabis helped treat their condition(s). Below is more information about it via a NORML news release:

Ontario, Canada: The use of cannabis products is associated with perceived improvements in insomnia in patients suffering from either anxiety or depression, according to data published in the journal BMC Psychiatry.

A team of Canadian researchers assessed the effectiveness of cannabis in managing insomnia in a cohort of 677 subjects. Study participants suffered from either anxiety, depression, or from both conditions simultaneously. Subjects self-administered cannabis products at home and reported symptom changes in real time on a mobile software application. Investigators analyzed reports from over 8,400 cannabis-use sessions recorded over a three-year period.

Consistent with prior reports, subjects from all three groups reported significant benefits from cannabis. Participants perceived CBD-dominant products to be less effective than others.

“This naturalistic investigation of cannabis use for insomnia suggests that individuals with depression, anxiety, and comorbid depression and anxiety perceive benefits from using cannabis for sleep,” authors concluded. “In addition, compared to other cannabis strains, CBD-dominant products may be less helpful for sleep, specifically in individuals with depression. The current study highlights the need for placebo-controlled trials investigating the efficacy and safety of cannabinoids for sleep in individuals with mood and anxiety disorders.”

Full text of the study, “An investigation of cannabis use for insomnia in depression and anxiety in a naturalistic sample,” appears in BMC Psychiatry.

Canada, insomnia

New Study Looks At Cannabis, Anxiety, And Depression In Canada

Written by Frank Schuler on May 6, 2022. Posted in Archives, Science.

Anxiety and depression are major mental health conditions that affect a significant portion of the world’s population. As many as 275 million people suffer from anxiety globally, and as many as 5% of adults suffer from depression worldwide.

Clinical depression is a mental health disorder involving a ‘persistently depressed mood or loss of interest in activities, causing significant impairment in daily life.’ Changes in sleep patterns, food intake, energy level, focus, daily behavior, and/or self-esteem are all symptoms of depression.

Anxiety is characterized as an ‘intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations.’ An increased heart rate, rapid breathing, persistent sweating, and feeling tired are all symptoms of anxiety.

Many people that suffer from one of the mental health conditions also suffer from the other condition. For some patients, cannabis may help, as demonstrated by a recent study in Canada.

A team of researchers affiliated with Harvest Medicine in Calgary recently conducted a retrospective study involving medical cannabis patients and their use of cannabis to battle their anxiety and/or depression.

“Patients included in the study were at least 18 years of age with completed validated questionnaires for anxiety (GAD-7) and depression (PHQ-9) at their initial evaluation and at least one follow-up visit. There were 7,362 patients included in the sample, of which the average age was 49.8 years, and 53.1% were female.” the researchers stated regarding the study’s methodology.

“There were statistically significant improvements between baseline and follow-up scores for both the GAD-7 and PHQ-9, with larger improvements seen for patients who were actively seeking medical cannabis to treat anxiety or depression.” the researchers stated.

“From 12 months on, those reporting anxiety had an average decrease in GAD-7 scores that was greater than the minimum clinically important difference of 4, and the same was seen for patients reporting depression from 18 months on, with the average decrease in PHQ-9 scores more than the MCID minimum clinically important difference of 5.” the researchers also stated.

“This study provides some evidence to support the effectiveness of medical cannabis as a treatment for anxiety and depression.” the researchers concluded.

It’s always important to note that the cannabis plant is complex and human biology is complicated. What works for one person may not work for the next person, especially when it comes to anxiety and/or depression. Contact your medical care provider to see if cannabis may help treat your condition(s).

Canada

Manitoba’s Home Cultivation Ban Receives Judicial Review

Written by Johnny Green on May 5, 2022. Posted in Archives, Policy.

Canada was the first G-7 nation to legalize cannabis for adult use. Only one other country, Uruguay, legalized cannabis for adult use before Canada made the public policy shift in late 2018.

One of the components of Canada’s legalization model was home cultivation, with adult households permitted to cultivate up to 4 plants according to the new federal law. Unfortunately, two provinces quickly moved to ban home cultivation – Manitoba and Quebec.

Quebec’s home cultivation ban was already challenged in court, with the first judge determining that home cultivation bans were unconstitutional. That judge’s decision was overturned upon appeal, and now the issue is waiting to be reviewed by Canada’s Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, a court challenge was being pursued in Manitoba as well, and that challenge recently received its day in court. The government’s argument essentially involves the position that provinces can be more restrictive, but not less restrictive, than federal law when it comes to home cultivation.

The argument made by home cultivation advocates is that while provinces can put restrictions in place, they cannot outright ban home cultivation. A similar argument was made in the Quebec home cultivation case. Below is more information about the Manitoba case, via excerpts from CBC:

Tousaw argued Manitoba’s position is in direct contravention of the federal Cannabis Act, which permitted grow-your-own-cannabis operations across the country, barring some differences across jurisdictions but no outright prohibitions.

“Other provinces understood these comments as invitations to regulate time, place and manner, and many have done so,” he told the court.

“By imposing the absolute prohibition on residential cultivation, Manitoba exceeded the bounds of the federal government’s invitation to cooperate and improperly undermined the purposes of the Cannabis Act.”

A ruling in the Manitoba case is expected to take weeks or even months to occur. Even then, regardless of the outcome, it’s likely that the case will eventually make its way to Canada’s Supreme Court, just as the case in Quebec has done.

I would personally expect Canada’s top court to side with the arguments being made by home cultivation advocates, including the arguments made by attorney Kirk Tousaw. However, only time will tell how it all shakes out.

Canada

wheelchair disability health condition patient

Most Canadian Patients With MS Report Consuming Cannabis

Written by Frank Schuler on May 3, 2022. Posted in Archives, Science.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a serious issue around the world. It is estimated that as many as 2.8 million people suffer from MS globally and that someone new is diagnosed with the health condition every 5 minutes.

MS is a progressive disease involving damage to the sheaths of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms include, but are not limited to, numbness, impairment of speech and of muscular coordination, blurred vision, and severe fatigue.

Cannabis has been found by a growing number of MS patients to help effectively and safely treat their condition. Those personal experiences are backed up by a growing number of peer-reviewed studies.

A recent study out of Canada reflects cannabis’ popularity as a form of treatment among MS patients. Below is more information about the recent Canadian MS study via a news release from NORML:

Edmonton, Canada: Most Canadians diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) report using cannabis to mitigate their symptoms, according to data published in the journal Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders.

Researchers affiliated with the University of Alberta, Department of Medicine surveyed MS patients’ frequency of cannabis use and their motivations for consuming it. Canadian officials legalized the use of medical cannabis products nearly two decades ago. Adult-use sales were legalized in 2018. An oral spray containing precise ratios of plant-derived THC and CBD (Sativex) has also been available by prescription in Canada for the treatment of MS since 2005.

Authors reported that nearly two-thirds of respondents had consumed cannabis during their lifetimes and that 52 percent identified themselves as current users. Patients most frequently reported consuming cannabis to address symptoms related to sleep (84 percent), pain (80 percent), and spasticity (69 percent). Respondents said that cannabis was “moderately to highly effective” at mitigating their symptoms. The majority of patients acknowledged learning about the therapeutic use of cannabis from “someone other than [their] healthcare provider.”

Human trials indicate that the use of both whole-plant cannabis and cannabis extracts can alleviate various symptoms of the disease as well as potentially modulate its progression.

Full text of the study, “Medical cannabis use in Canadians with multiple sclerosis,” appears in Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders. Additional information about the use of cannabis in multiple sclerosis is available from NORML.

Canada, multiple sclerosis

Which Country Has ‘The Best’ Cannabis Legalization Model?

Written by Johnny Green on April 23, 2022. Posted in Archives, Policy.

Cannabis prohibition, thankfully, has not always existed. For thousands of years, humans used the cannabis plant for various purposes, and it was only in the 1900s that cannabis prohibition first became a widespread public policy around the globe.

As I have said many times and will say until the day that I die, cannabis prohibition is one of the most harmful public policies in the history of humans. Countless people have had their lives needlessly ruined because of the cannabis plant, despite the fact that cannabis is safer than many of the products people have in their homes.

Fortunately, the walls of cannabis prohibition are slowly but surely crumbling, and now there are multiple countries within the global community that have legalized cannabis for adult use. Lawmakers in Uruguay, Canada, and Malta have all passed adult-use legalization measures, and all three countries have different legalization models.

Buying And Cultivating

All three countries that have legalized cannabis at the national level currently have the same legal age, 18 years old, and all three countries permit adults of legal age to cultivate cannabis at home, although Canada has seen some local bans that are working their way through various legal challenges.

The real difference between Uruguay, Canada, and Malta’s legalization models can be found in how people legally purchase cannabis for adult use. Uruguay, the first country to ever legalize cannabis for adult use, limits purchases to clubs and pharmacies, and only citizens and permanent residents can make purchases (although that is changing at some point).

Malta is still setting up rules and regulations after becoming the first country in Europe to legalize cannabis for adult use late last year. When sales do begin in Malta, they will only occur via private clubs – no dispensaries. From a purely purchasing standpoint, Canada has the best legalization model in that anyone from anywhere can make a purchase as long as they are of legal age, and those purchases can be made through the mail, via storefronts, and virtually any other way that people can buy cannabis.

More Legalization On The Horizon

Uruguay was the first country to ever legalize cannabis at a national level. Canada was the first G-7 country to legalize cannabis for adult use. Malta was the first country in Europe to pass an adult-use legalization measure. All three of those countries have a claim to being the first to legalize cannabis in some manner, however, none of them will be the last.

Multiple countries (Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands) are launching or expanding adult-use legalization pilot programs that create localized legalization. Multiple other countries (Mexico, Italy, South Africa) have had their top courts render decisions against cannabis prohibition policies and lawmakers there are working to fully implement legalization.

Germany, which is home to one of the largest economies on planet earth, is trending closer to legalization every month. The largest prohibition domino, the United States, is witnessing the continued spread of legalization at the state level with every passing year either via the election process or the legislative process. With that in mind, more legalization models are on the horizon and while all of them are likely to incorporate some policy components that are already implemented in current legalized nations, there will be new policy components introduced as well as more countries get on the right side of history, with some new policies being more nuanced than others.

Trying to determine what is ‘the best’ is a subjective measurement, and largely in the eye of the beholder. That is true of cannabis legalization policies just as it is with virtually anything else. What is considered to be ‘the best’ cannabis policy in one region may not work at all in different regions. With that being said, every legalization model is better than locking humans in prison cells due to them being caught with cannabis.

Canada, malta, uruguay

Quebec Cannabis Use Increased Among Adults, Decreased Among Teenagers After Legalization

Written by Frank Schuler on April 18, 2022. Posted in Archives, Policy.

A very common talking point for cannabis opponents leading up to a vote on legalization, either by citizens or lawmakers, is that cannabis use will spike among youth if/when cannabis becomes legal. It’s a talking point that is used against both medical cannabis reform as well as adult-use reform.

Cannabis opponents will hype up doomsday scenarios, acting as if young people don’t consume unless cannabis becomes legal for patients and/or adults. The ‘stoned youth epidemic’ scare tactic is as old as prohibition. Obviously, some percentage of young people are going to consume cannabis whether it’s legal for patients and/or adults or not.

Unfortunately for cannabis opponents, the data does not back up their previously mentioned claims. Quebec is one of many examples. Canada was the first G-7 nation to legalize cannabis for adult use and the first nation on earth to allow cannabis sales to any adult of legal age, regardless of their citizenship status.

Since October 2018 when legalization was enacted in Canada, a considerable amount of data has been collected. A recent examination of usage data from Quebec shows that while more adults are reporting using cannabis, the youngest group for which data is available is trending in the opposite direction. Per CTV News:

According to a survey published this week by the Institut de la statistique du Québec, one in five people over the age of 15 — 20 per cent of the population — have used cannabis in the past year. By comparison, in 2018 — the year the federal cannabis law came into effect — the rate was 14 per cent.

This increase in the popularity of cannabis is observed across all age groups, except for teenagers aged 15 to 17, where there was a decline from 22 per cent in 2018 to 19 per cent in 2021.

The biggest marijuana users are 21-24 year olds, with 43 per cent saying they used it in 2021. In general, men (23 per cent) are also more likely than women (16 per cent) to use the substance.

Cannabis supporters have long pointed to the fact that in a regulated cannabis system, identifications are routinely checked to ensure that only people of legal age are able to purchase cannabis. That is not something that happens in a regulated system, as there is no requirement to check ID at all.

The fact of the matter is that regulation works, as demonstrated by the recent data analysis in Quebec. As far as the data pertaining to adults, it’s quite possible that what we are seeing in the data is not necessarily more people consuming cannabis for the first time. Instead, it could be a reflection of more people being willing to admit that they consume cannabis now that cannabis is legal and the stigma is going away.

Of course, it’s also possible that it could be a combination of the two. Regardless, given how much safer cannabis is compared to other substances, and the wellness properties that the cannabis plant possesses, more people consuming it is ultimately a good thing.

Canada, quebec

Tag: Canada