tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/marijuana-legalization-canada-2018-48796/articlesMarijuana legalization Canada 2018 – The Conversation2023-10-09T15:26:08Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2148042023-10-09T15:26:08Z2023-10-09T15:26:08ZCannabis in Canada: Debunking myths about the real impacts of legalization<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/cannabis-in-canada-debunking-myths-about-the-real-impacts-of-legalization" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Before Canada legalized recreational cannabis in October 2018, there was <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8315217/">considerable debate about its potential effects</a>. Some predicted it would trigger <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/real_estate/2018/08/09/cannabis-gold-rush-will-boost-retail-in-canada-riocan-says.html">an economic “goldrush,”</a> while others worried it would lead to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.170555">public health “tragedies.”</a> </p>
<p><a href="https://brocku.ca/goodman/faculty-research/faculty-directory/michael-armstrong">Researchers like myself</a> have since investigated the real effects of legalization. As it turns out, certain trends were already underway before legalization and continued afterward. On the flip side, some changes did not happen as anticipated.</p>
<p>This information can help other countries that are now grappling with similar uncertainties about their own legalization plans. Politicians across the globe have been making diverse claims about the impact legalization will have on their countries. </p>
<p>In the United States, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/03/12/nebraska-gov-pete-ricketts-legal-marijuana-kill-your-kids/4663466001">Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts</a> has said cannabis is a “dangerous drug” that will kill children. German politician Markus Söder has <a href="https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gesellschaft/cannabis-legalisierung-bayern-plant-zentrale-kontrolleinheit-a-284e3aeb-63eb-4fb2-87cc-95f142707717">voiced similar concerns</a>. </p>
<p>On the opposing end of the spectrum, Kenyan presidential candidate George Wajackoyah <a href="https://africacheck.org/fact-checks/reports/ganjanomics-fact-checking-kenyan-presidential-candidate-george-wajackoyahs">proposed the legalization and commercialization of cannabis</a> as a way to eliminate Kenya’s public debt.</p>
<p>Given these debates, Canada’s cannabis legalization experience can offer valuable insights to countries navigating the same terrain.</p>
<h2>Cannabis use</h2>
<p>Many were concerned that legalizing cannabis would trigger a huge increase in usage, resulting in <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wherry-marijuana-trudeau-1.4069815">“hordes of stoned teenagers”</a>. Opponents to legalization argued that <em>any</em> increase in usage <a href="https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.181287">would prove it had failed</a>.</p>
<p>However, the percentage of adults using cannabis had already been increasing prior to 2018. Unsurprisingly, it <a href="https://health-infobase.canada.ca/cannabis/">continued to rise after legalization</a>. <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/canadian-alcohol-drugs-survey/2019-summary.html">Government surveys</a> put the usage rate at nine per cent in 2011, 15 per cent in 2017 and 20 per cent in 2019.</p>
<p>There was a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2023.109765">boost after legalization</a> beyond the ongoing trend. But part of that might have been from people becoming <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-medication/cannabis/research-data/canadian-cannabis-survey-2021-summary.html#a2.2">more open about cannabis use</a>.</p>
<p>On the other hand, teenagers’ cannabis use <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.25318/82-003-x202100400001-eng">hardly budged after 2018</a>. This suggests teenagers who wanted cannabis were already able to buy it easily from dealers. </p>
<h2>Health issues</h2>
<p>Health impacts were also a significant concern while Canada was debating cannabis legalization. Canada’s previous prime minister, Stephen Harper, claimed cannabis was <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/stephen-harper-pot-marijuana-1.3255727">“infinitely worse”</a> than tobacco. His successor, Justin Trudeau, instead said legalization would <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-24.5/page-1.html#h-76969">“protect” health</a>.</p>
<p>In reality, cannabis-related hospital visits by adults <a href="https://doi.org/10.24095/hpcdp.40.5/6.07">were already growing before</a> 2018 and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/add.16152">kept growing afterward</a>. Compared to early 2011, the rate in Ontario was about three times higher in 2018 and five times higher in 2021.</p>
<p>The post-2018 growth was, again, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/add.15834">partly legalization-related</a> and partly an on-going trend.</p>
<p>However, some health impacts have been more serious. There has been significant growth in <a href="https://theconversation.com/legalizing-cannabis-led-to-increased-cannabis-poisonings-in-canadian-children-it-could-get-a-whole-lot-worse-191938">children’s hospital visits due to accidental cannabis consumption</a>. Among children under 10 years old, there was a nine-fold increase in emergency room visits and a six-fold increase in hospitalizations.</p>
<h2>Driving safety</h2>
<p><a href="https://cacp.ca/index.html?asst_id=1332">Law enforcement was concerned that legalizing cannabis</a> would cause more impaired driving. Police complained that they lacked the equipment necessary for detecting cannabis impairment.</p>
<p>Research on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.31551">whether</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/add.16188">or not</a> legalization actually resulted in more cannabis-impaired driving remains inconclusive. Unfortunately, government reports often don’t specify which substances caused drivers’ impairments.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cannabis-impaired-driving-heres-what-we-know-about-the-risks-of-weed-behind-the-wheel-173823">Cannabis-impaired driving: Here’s what we know about the risks of weed behind the wheel</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>However, we do know <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/cv.action?pid=3510017701">overall drug-impaired driving</a> — any substance except alcohol — increased before and after 2018. Compared to 2011, drug-impaired driving arrests roughly doubled by 2017 and quadrupled by 2020.</p>
<p>There have also been ongoing increases in injuries from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.31551">traffic accidents involving cannabis</a>. Compared to 2011, the injury rates in Ontario were about two times higher in 2017 and three times higher in 2020.</p>
<h2>Arrest rates</h2>
<p>Legalization also brought up concerns about crime and social justice. The <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-24.5/page-1.html#h-76969">federal government expected legalization</a> would reduce the time police spent on cannabis enforcement. Advocates hoped to see <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8315217/">fewer arrests among marginalized groups</a>.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2023.109892">the declines in arrests that legalization triggered</a> weren’t very large. This was because arrests for <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/cv.action?pid=3510017701">illegal cannabis possession had already been decreasing in Canada</a> — under both Conservative and Liberal governments — long before legalization. By 2018, the arrest rate was already 71 per cent lower than its 2011 level.</p>
<p>While arrests fell again in 2019, they bottomed-out afterwards, leaving little room for further rate drops.</p>
<p>Arrests for illegal cannabis distribution offences, like growing and trafficking, fell 67 per cent between 2011 and 2018. This trend largely continued after 2018.</p>
<h2>Booming sales</h2>
<p>Businesses had high hopes that legalization would lead to <a href="https://www.thestar.com/real-estate/cannabis-gold-rush-will-boost-retail-in-canada-riocan-says/article_7d4ba63f-f3a6-5d7e-b5f2-5c11b7c6b14b.html">an economic goldrush</a>. <a href="https://thetyee.ca/News/2015/05/19/Stephen-Harper-Marijuana-Politics/">Foreign investors helped fund</a> Canadian cannabis companies. There were also debates among the governments about <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/finance-ministers-pot-tax-1.4442540">how to distribute the new tax revenue</a>.</p>
<p>After legalization, cannabis business did boom in some ways. Although most provinces initially <a href="https://theconversation.com/scarce-retail-weed-shops-means-most-canadians-still-use-black-market-pot-113503">lacked enough stores</a>, there are now more than 3,600 across Canada. Sales have surged from $42 million in October 2018 to $446 million in July 2023. They’re now <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/230224/dq230224a-eng.htm">half as large as beer sales</a>.</p>
<p>However, some regions now have <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-too-many-marijuana-shops-too-much-pot-production-the-industrys/">too many cannabis stores</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-63-the-current/clip/16001923-the-challenges-facing-struggling-cannabis-business-owners">many businesses are struggling to stay afloat</a>. As a result, some corporations and their shareholders <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/legal-marijuana-canadian-cannabis-pot-stocks-11665678274">have lost billions of dollars</a>. Only the <a href="https://mjbizdaily.com/most-profitable-cannabis-businesses-in-canada-are-owned-by-government/">government-owned cannabis agencies seem to be consistently profitable</a>.</p>
<h2>Legalization lessons</h2>
<p>While legalization did cause <em>some</em> changes, it was also a government response to changes that were already underway. There are three potential lessons that can be taken away from this. </p>
<p>The first is that cannabis legalization research <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/add.16314">needs to account for existing trends</a>. It can’t rely on simple before-versus-after comparisons. Governments can help with this by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.202041">publishing more of the cannabis data</a> they collect.</p>
<p>The second lesson is that Canadian policymakers should worry less about whether legalization caused specific cannabis problems. Instead, they should focus on resolving them.</p>
<p>The third lesson is for other countries considering legalization, like <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/11/germany-czechia-luxembourg-netherlands-push-to-legalize-cannabis.html">Germany</a>, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/25/germany-europe-weed-legalization-00070469">Denmark</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-united-states-can-learn-from-canadas-cannabis-clarity-158500">U.S</a>. For these countries, Canada’s experience serves as a valuable case study. Policymakers should review their own trends before legalizing, because the outcomes afterward might not be as different as they expect.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214804/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael J. Armstrong does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There were concerns about changes that cannabis legalization might bring. But some trends that were already underway beforehand mostly carried on afterward.Michael J. Armstrong, Associate Professor, Operations Research, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1481512020-10-20T13:10:45Z2020-10-20T13:10:45ZOntario’s cannabis agency earns $18.6 million, beating Alberta’s but lagging Québec’s<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364093/original/file-20201018-19-1l7iz4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C51%2C3421%2C2325&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hundreds of people line up at a government cannabis store on Oct. 17, 2018, in Montréal as the legal sale of cannabis begins in Canada. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>According to recently released <a href="https://www.doingbusinesswithocs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/FINAL-OCRC-Financial-Statements-and-Notes-March-31-2020-English.pdf">financial statements</a>, the <a href="https://ocs.ca/pages/about-us">Ontario Cannabis Store</a> (OCS) earned $18.6 million during its 2019-20 financial year. That’s a welcome reversal from the previous year’s $42-million loss. But while OCS did better financially than its Alberta counterpart, it still lagged behind Québec’s <a href="https://www.sqdc.ca/en-CA/about-the-sqdc?origin=dropdown&c1=a-propos&clickedon=a-propos">Société québécoise du cannabis</a> (SQDC). </p>
<p>And even though Canada marked the second anniversary of legalization this past weekend, both Ontario and Québec still lack enough stores to make legal products widely accessible, unlike in Alberta.</p>
<h2>Three main improvements</h2>
<p>The first reason for the turnaround was fewer write-offs. Between April 2018 and March 2019, OCS wrote off $12.6 million for retail store preparations it didn’t use. That was because the Ontario government <a href="https://theconversation.com/cannabis-with-your-coffee-ontario-could-have-thousands-of-pot-retailers-103135">reassigned storefront selling to the private sector</a>. During 2019-20, by contrast, the OCS wrote down “only” $2.1 million of inventory, perhaps due to quality concerns.</p>
<p>The second reason was a longer selling period. Cannabis was legal throughout the recent year, versus only half of the previous one. So although OCS’s monthly retail sales dropped 35 per cent, its annual total grew from $57 million to $74 million.</p>
<p>The third and biggest reason was the opening of licensed stores. OCS sold $224 million of products wholesale to those stores, despite there being just 53 of them.</p>
<h2>Ahead of some provinces, behind Québec</h2>
<p>The OCS results were better than New Brunswick’s. Its cannabis agency <a href="https://www.cannabis-nb.com/contentassets/b3d688defea240bab1f5c3e39e8d5a5f/cannabisnb-annualreport-2020-en-web.pdf">lost $4.2 million</a> during 2019-20, though it <a href="https://www.cannabis-nb.com/contentassets/b3d688defea240bab1f5c3e39e8d5a5f/cnb_q2_final_2020-2021en.pdf">has since become profitable</a>.</p>
<p>OCS also beat Alberta’s agency. It <a href="https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/5a03321d-01b4-4d20-a47d-098c0b67d88b/resource/2d5824f5-1cb7-4029-9b39-0a87079666f1/download/tbf-annual-report-2019-2020.pdf">technically lost $14.2 million</a>, though the Alberta government’s <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/excise-duties-levies/collecting-cannabis.html">extra 16.8 per cent excise tax</a> more than covered that.</p>
<p>But the OCS results look less impressive relative to <a href="https://sqcprdwebsitecontent.azureedge.net/media/abe625f6-0f60-4ea2-adc5-b15b7da6b5fe/4elfcw/Olive/Acc%C3%A8s%20info/Publications/SQDC_ANNUAL%20REPORT%202020_FV.pdf">SQDC’s $26.3 million profit</a>.</p>
<p>Ontario’s lower earnings came despite having a <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-003-x/2020002/article/00002-eng.htm">2.5 times larger market</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-cannabis-so-expensive-in-some-provinces-dont-ask-statistics-canada-132334">higher prices</a> than Québec. SQDC’s price averaged $7.64 per gram for 2019-20, versus <a href="https://www.ocswholesale.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/OCS-InsightsReport_2019-2020.pdf">$8.56 from OCS online and $10.84 in Ontario cannabis shops</a>.</p>
<p>The OCS’s financial statements suggest it charged wholesale prices 30 per cent above what it paid producers. Its retail prices were 73 per cent higher than it paid.</p>
<p>By contrast, other province’s retail markups were lower: 58 per cent in New Brunswick, <a href="http://www.bcldb.com/files/SOFI%20statements%202019-20%20final.pdf">46 per cent in British Columbia</a>, and just 29 per cent in Québec.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People line up, with their dogs in the foreground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364092/original/file-20201018-15-t2o7jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364092/original/file-20201018-15-t2o7jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364092/original/file-20201018-15-t2o7jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364092/original/file-20201018-15-t2o7jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364092/original/file-20201018-15-t2o7jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364092/original/file-20201018-15-t2o7jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364092/original/file-20201018-15-t2o7jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Québec’s cannabis stores have proven popular.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>SQDC earned more money despite lower prices partly because its operations were leaner. It rented no warehouses and stored just enough inventory to cover 22 days worth of sales. That kept expenses down.</p>
<p>By contrast, Ontario’s warehouse held 64 days worth of inventory, while those of Alberta (122 days) and New Brunswick (148 days) had more. </p>
<p>SQDC’s success let it pay a $26.3-million dividend to the Québec government last year. Conversely, the OCS’s debt to Ontario’s government grew to $82 million.</p>
<p>Perhaps that’s why Ontario and Québec released their financial results differently. SQDC <a href="https://www.sqdc.ca/fr-CA/a-propos/M%C3%A9dias/2020/06/11/La-SQDC-annonce-un-r%c3%a9sultat-net-de-263-millions-de-dollars">announced its results in June</a> and had its <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/sqdc-montreal-will-have-same-day-delivery-of-legal-weed-by-july">CEO publicize them</a>. The OCS <a href="https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/58495/ontario-restores-transparency-and-accountability-to-the-provinces-finances">waited several months longer</a> and <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/5861977/ontario-cannabis-store-ceo-resigns/">its CEO</a> <a href="https://mjbizdaily.com/change-afoot-at-ontario-cannabis-store-with-new-ceo-board-members/">left before</a> publicity ensued.</p>
<h2>Still not enough stores</h2>
<p>But despite the performance differences, Ontario and Québec share something in common: too few cannabis shops. As of last week, Ontario had only 91 stores <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-003-x/2020002/article/00002-eng.htm">per million cannabis users</a> and Québec had just 56, well below the Canadian average of 230.</p>
<p>Québec’s low retail density is due to SQDC’s slow-and-steady growth strategy. That helps keep it efficient. </p>
<p>It likely also suits the <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/november-2019/quebecs-surprisingly-conservative-approach-to-cannabis/">Québec government’s distaste for legalization</a>. In January it raised the legal age to 21 from 18, <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/opinion-quebec-should-make-legal-cannabis-more-available-not-less">abandoning about 80,000 users</a> to illicit suppliers.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/quebec-is-wrong-to-raise-its-legal-cannabis-age-to-21-127429">Québec is wrong to raise its legal cannabis age to 21</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Meanwhile in Ontario, the provincial government has been the chief restraint on store numbers. That was understandable during fall 2018 and winter 2019, when <a href="https://theconversation.com/feds-are-blowing-smoke-about-pot-supplies-114507">dry cannabis products were in short supply</a>. </p>
<p>But although those shortages faded in spring 2019, Ontario <a href="https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/55105/ontario-opening-cannabis-retail-market">waited until April 2020</a> to fully resume store licensing. Even then, it initially processed just 20 licences per month. That only recently increased to <a href="https://www.agco.ca/blog/cannabis/sep-2020/agco-begins-issuing-10-cannabis-retail-store-authorizations-week">40 per month</a>.</p>
<p>By comparison, Alberta <a href="https://mjbizdaily.com/alberta-regulators-have-reserved-a-moratorium-on-issuing-new-adult-use-cannabis-retail-permits-due-to-an-easing-shortage-of-wholesale-marijuana/">was issuing 20 licences per month in June 2019</a> and <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/robcannabispro/article-alberta-lifts-retail-pot-shop-licence-tally-to-176-with-20-more/">hit 20 a week by July of that year</a>. </p>
<p>Consequently, <a href="https://aglc.ca/cannabis/retail-cannabis/cannabis-licensee-search">Alberta now has 528 shops</a>, whereas <a href="https://www.agco.ca/status-current-cannabis-retail-store-applications">Ontario has only 193</a> — plus more than 740 applicants awaiting licences. That raises questions about the Doug Ford government’s “<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-ontario-isnt-really-open-for-business-105817">Ontario: Open For Business</a>” slogan. Open … eventually? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man talks with a photo of cannabis behind him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364094/original/file-20201018-23-1xpbbp9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364094/original/file-20201018-23-1xpbbp9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364094/original/file-20201018-23-1xpbbp9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364094/original/file-20201018-23-1xpbbp9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364094/original/file-20201018-23-1xpbbp9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364094/original/file-20201018-23-1xpbbp9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364094/original/file-20201018-23-1xpbbp9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kevin Lam, director of merchandising for the OCS, is seen during a product briefing at the Ontario Cannabis Store in Toronto in January 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tijana Martin</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Imagine if just half of those retailers-in-waiting had already opened. Each month the extra shops might be adding some $50 million in retail sales and $20 million in producer revenues.</p>
<p>They’d also be drawing more consumers away from illicit suppliers. Half of Ontario’s cannabis consumption might now be legal (<a href="https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-cannabis-stores-have-inhaled-almost-half-of-the-industry-s-illegal-market-1.5146007">as it is in Québec</a>), rather than <a href="https://www.ocswholesale.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/OCS-InsightsReport_Q1-2020-FINAL.pdf">just one-quarter</a>.</p>
<p>Frustratingly, that’s not reality yet. Nonetheless, progress has been made over the two years since legalized sales began. </p>
<h2>Dropping prices, rising market share</h2>
<p>For example, legal products have become more price-competitive with illegal ones. The OCS says its average online price <a href="https://www.ocswholesale.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/OCS-InsightsReport_Q1-2020-FINAL.pdf">in the spring of 2020 was $7.05 per gram</a>, below the $7.98 estimated average for unlicensed web sites. <a href="https://sqcprdwebsitecontent.azureedge.net/media/4ae94951-4e79-4b25-a8d9-6309487a2e52/V9O9RQ/Olive/Acc%C3%A8s%20info/Publications/SQDC_Rapport%20financier_T1%202020-21_VF.pdf">SQDC’s average was still lower: just $6.67</a>.</p>
<p>The decreasing prices and increasing store counts apparently have encouraged more users to buy legally. Statistics Canada estimates <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/cv.action?pid=3610012401">half our country’s cannabis spending</a> is now legal. </p>
<p>So, though we’ve still far to go, Canada’s grand legalization experiment has come a long way.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148151/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael J. Armstrong does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Ontario Cannabis Store’s performance greatly improved but still trailed Quebec’s. However, both provinces still lack a sufficient number of outlets.Michael J. Armstrong, Associate professor of operations research, Goodman School of Business, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1186792019-06-18T23:49:04Z2019-06-18T23:49:04ZCannabis quality involves careful science and carefree highs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279890/original/file-20190617-118514-242fsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4679%2C3116&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cannabis producers must ensure the quality of their products is high, but not too "high."
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dimitri Bang/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Canada’s legal cannabis industry continues to make progress. <a href="https://theconversation.com/feds-are-blowing-smoke-about-pot-supplies-114507">Product shortages</a> are decreasing. <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/5383887/quebec-cannabis-sales-first-year/">Store</a> <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/cannabis-license-moratorium-lifted-1.5155856">numbers</a> are increasing. And <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/news/2019/06/health-canada-finalizes-regulations-for-the-production-and-sale-of-edible-cannabis-cannabis-extracts-and-cannabis-topicals.html">edible cannabis regulations</a> have just been finalized.</p>
<p>With these basics falling into place, the industry and its regulators can focus more on <a href="https://theconversation.com/legal-cannabis-vs-black-market-can-it-compete-104915">competing with black markets</a>. Product quality is one area where legal suppliers might have advantages. But to deliver good quality cannabis, producers must simultaneously aim for both careful science and carefree highs.</p>
<p>This dual goal is partly due to government policy. Cannabis producers and products are federally regulated, much like pharmaceuticals. Health Canada oversees <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-medication/cannabis/industry-licensees-applicants/applying-licence.html">producer licences</a>, <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-2018-144/page-12.html#h-848497">package designs</a> and medical cannabis sales.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, cannabis retailing is provincially regulated, much as with alcohol. In Ontario, for example, <a href="https://ocs.ca/#/verify-age">one provincial agency</a> runs wholesaling and online sales. Another handles <a href="https://www.agco.ca/cannabis/private-retail-licensing-and-regulation">retail licences</a> and <a href="https://learn.cannsell.ca/">employee qualifications</a>.</p>
<h2>Preventing defects</h2>
<p>This regulatory approach emphasizes conformance to rules and specifications. Such <em>conformance quality</em> helps prevent product defects and consumer harm.</p>
<p>For example, cannabis producers must follow Health Canada’s <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-2018-144/page-11.html">Good Production Practices</a> (GPP). These include <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/drugs-health-products/cannabis-testing-pesticide-requirements.html">testing to ensure products</a> don’t contain pesticides or mould, but do contain the promised levels of <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-medication/cannabis/about.html">THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol)</a>.</p>
<p>Such testing should help legal products be more reliable than black-market ones. Indeed, some <a href="https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1171294/sqdc-benefices-anticipes-20-millions-2019-2020-jean-francois-bergeron-cannabis">consumers have found</a> their moderate-strength legal products provide the same high as their supposedly high-strength illegal ones did. Evidently some illicit suppliers exaggerate their products’ attributes. They know they won’t be tested.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/scarce-retail-weed-shops-means-most-canadians-still-use-black-market-pot-113503">Scarce retail weed shops means most Canadians still use black market pot</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Health Canada also requires producers and distributors to <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-medication/cannabis/tracking-system.html">track all their cannabis</a>. Each month they must report the amounts harvested, processed, or sold.</p>
<p>Many organizations exceed these legal minimums. For instance, retailers aren’t required to test products. But Québec’s cannabis agency tests <a href="https://www.sqdc.ca/en-CA/about-the-sqdc/acces-to-information/Publications">10 products per supplier</a> each month to confirm their contents.</p>
<p>Similarly, some producers have adopted <a href="https://www.cannabiscomplianceinc.com/application-of-gmp-in-the-cannabis-industry/">international quality standards</a> like <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151222005626/en/MedReleaf-Corp.-ISO-90012008-Certified-Licensed-Producer">ISO 9000</a>. Others have formed a <a href="https://www.theleafnews.com/news/new-cannabis-industry-group-focuses-on-quality-control-509079022.html">cannabis industry quality association</a>.</p>
<h2>Grow from cuttings</h2>
<p>Producers do other things to ensure product consistency. Many grow their plants from cuttings rather than seeds. This helps each plant match its “mother’s” traits.</p>
<p>Indoor growing can also improve consistency. It’s more expensive than using greenhouses or open fields, but it gives more control over <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3310456">growing conditions</a>.</p>
<p>Despite these efforts, problems sometimes occur. Producers have recalled <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/sr/srb/sra.html?dmn=healthycanadians.gc.ca%2Frecall-alert-rappel-avis%2F&allq=cannabis&wb-srch-sub=Search+alerts#wb-land">13 cannabis products</a> since October. Some merely had <a href="https://www.healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/hc-sc/2019/69924r-eng.php">labelling errors</a>. But others concerned <a href="https://www.healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/hc-sc/2019/68798r-eng.php">mould contamination</a>, <a href="https://www.healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/hc-sc/2019/69656r-eng.php">insufficient THC</a> or <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/bonify-recalled-cannabis-manitoba-1.5007446">unlicensed production</a>.</p>
<p>(Incidentally, Health Canada encourages consumers to <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-medication/cannabis/recalls-adverse-reactions-reporting/report-side-effects-cannabis-products.html">report any adverse side effects</a> they experience from cannabis use.)</p>
<p>Of course, consumers don’t just want to avoid problems. They also want to gain benefits.</p>
<h2>Designing products</h2>
<p>So producers must design products to satisfy and delight their customers. But ensuring good <em>design quality</em> is difficult. That’s because <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-canadians-are-buying-cannabis-and-getting-high-now-that-its-legal-111464">consumers’ preferences vary widely</a> and product designs offer many options.</p>
<p>The most basic product format is dried cannabis for smoking. But even it requires many decisions. Producers must select plant varieties and growing conditions that will yield <a href="https://www.leafly.ca/news/cannabis-101/leaflys-visual-quality-guide-to-selecting-cannabis">high quality</a> “<a href="https://weedmaps.com/learn/introduction/how-to-buy-cannabis/">top shelf</a>” flowers. And they must choose whether to sell the result as dried flower, pre-rolled joints or even <a href="https://www.thegrowthop.com/cannabis-business/b-c-based-company-to-start-rolling-out-marijuana-cigarettes">filter-tipped “cigarettes”</a>.</p>
<p>Oils and other extracts start with dried plants and add more process steps. Oils can be extracted, purified, blended and diluted into many formulations.</p>
<p>Cannabis foods, drinks and lotions combine extracts with additional ingredients and additional decisions. For example, should cannabis-infused beverages taste like cannabis or like something else? Should they be sweet, sour, salty or spicy?</p>
<h2>Creating experiences</h2>
<p>But since cannabis is a drug, the quality of its effect also matters. Cannabis producers are clearly designing tangible goods. But they might want to adapt concepts relating to intangible “experiential” services like entertainment. What experience should they offer the consumer?</p>
<p>Recreational users desire pleasant effects ranging from mild relaxation to powerful highs. When smoking cannabis, they also care about its aroma.</p>
<p>By contrast, “wellness” users seek better health, while medical users need <a href="https://nccih.nih.gov/health/marijuana">specific treatments</a>. These consumers mostly prefer cannabis oils. Those allow more precise dosages and avoid smoking’s harms.</p>
<p>As producers gain experience, they could increasingly experiment with cannabis product formulations. Which mixes of THC, CBD and other cannabinoids give the best recreational highs? Or the most medical relief?</p>
<p>Some experimentation is already under way for beverages. With traditional cannabis drinks, the buzz arrives and fades much more slowly than that of alcohol. Companies are consequently developing <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/5221654/moosehead-breweries-cannabis/">beverages with faster onset and recovery times</a>. These will better suit “social drinking” situations.</p>
<h2>Extra challenges</h2>
<p>One quality challenge facing product designers is scientific. Cannabis contains THC, CBD and many other <a href="https://www.leafly.ca/news/cannabis-101/list-major-cannabinoids-cannabis-effects">cannabinoid chemicals</a> whose effects are not well understood. So, much trial-and-error will be needed at first.</p>
<p>Other challenges are regulatory. For example, producers are already designing edibles like <a href="https://www.thegrowthop.com/cannabis/cannabis-business/alberta-cannabis-producers-retailers-already-in-gear-for-legal-edibles/wcm/53adac55-8520-4365-b934-4ea6d99a6f9b">cannabis chocolates and sugars</a>, but they can’t test them with consumers until October. So product feedback techniques like tasting panels aren’t yet possible.</p>
<p>Product designers also must deal with inherent contradictions in public policy goals. Legal cannabis products must be appealing enough to draw existing users away from illicit suppliers. But not so appealing that they attract many new users, or accidentally get ingested by <a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/cannabis-is-medicine-dont-make-it-taste-good-2019060516764">unsuspecting adults</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/children-sent-to-hospital-after-eating-cannabis-infused-chocolate-bar-1.5018556">children</a> <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/what-to-do-if-rover-eats-your-cannabis-1.5166665">or pets</a>.</p>
<p>In other words, cannabis quality must be high, but not too “high.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118679/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael J. Armstrong does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To deliver good-quality cannabis, producers must simultaneously aim for both careful science and carefree highs.Michael J. Armstrong, Associate professor of operations research, Goodman School of Business, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1056992018-12-02T14:56:21Z2018-12-02T14:56:21ZWhat’s the real reason the Canadian government legalized weed?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246944/original/file-20181122-182047-1a3b31u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A woman smokes a large joint in a Toronto park on Wednesday, October 17, 2018, as they mark the first day of legalization of cannabis across Canada.
Lead Caption: Research shows that cannabis legalization is unlikely to either reduce criminal involvement or reduce availability to youth. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The goals of legalizing cannabis in Canada are two-fold: <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/health/campaigns/cannabis/canadians.html">reducing criminal involvement in the sale of cannabis and reducing its availability to youth.</a></p>
<p>But I have some doubt about these objectives of the government. Research shows that the illegal cannabis market <a href="https://www.citynews1130.com/2016/08/14/sfu-marijuana-industry-not-fueled-organized-crime/">is actually mostly made up of sellers and suppliers who do not have any ties to organized crime.</a> And globally, studies have shown that most young people <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2018.05.010">get their drugs through social networks and not directly from large scale suppliers</a>. </p>
<p>So, if legalization is unlikely to change youth access to cannabis and there didn’t seem to be a need to police cannabis sales, what are the real reasons for legalizing cannabis?</p>
<p>Could it be the corporate market-driven forces of neoliberalism?</p>
<p>Or perhaps an electoral strategy designed to <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006-x/2015001/article/14232-eng.htm">woo young voters?</a> </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-exactly-is-neoliberalism-84755">What exactly is neoliberalism?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Whatever the real reasons, the official goals of legalization are based on faulty premises. Let’s look at both of the government’s claims.</p>
<h2>Keeping cannabis away from youth?</h2>
<p>It has been 50 years since use of cannabis began shifting from the margins to the mainstream. This shift is marked by rising prevalence of use and greater social tolerance of users by nonusers.</p>
<p>Legalizing cannabis will not curtail high use rates nor contribute to reversing noted normalizing trends. <a href="https://theconversation.com/legal-cannabis-vs-black-market-can-it-compete-104915">Illegal market distribution will continue</a> due — at least in part — to overly restrictive regulations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246945/original/file-20181122-182071-1l4312c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246945/original/file-20181122-182071-1l4312c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246945/original/file-20181122-182071-1l4312c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246945/original/file-20181122-182071-1l4312c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246945/original/file-20181122-182071-1l4312c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246945/original/file-20181122-182071-1l4312c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246945/original/file-20181122-182071-1l4312c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young people access their social networks, not organized crime, to find cannabis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gades Photography / Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many users are ineligible to purchase legal cannabis due to age restrictions. The age restrictions exclude youth from the protections of legality and ensure continuation of unregulated access. Other users will maintain illegal market sources out of loyalty, distrust and refusal to be subject to retailers’ higher prices.</p>
<p>The goal of keeping legal cannabis out of the hands of youth will continue to be <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kat_Kolar/publication/323891520_It%27s_Really_No_Big_Deal_The_Role_of_Social_Supply_Networks_in_Normalizing_Use_of_Cannabis_by_Students_at_Canadian_Universities/links/5ae8a77645851588dd8148b6/Its-Really-No-Big-Deal-The-Role-of-Social-Supply-Networks-in-Normalizing-Use-of-Cannabis-by-Students-at-Canadian-Universities.pdf">thwarted by social networks of supply</a>.</p>
<h2>Reducing trafficking?</h2>
<p>We can learn a lot from the experience of other jurisdictions. For example, since <a href="https://sac.ofm.wa.gov/impacts-recreational-marijuana-legalization-washington">Washington State legalized the sale of recreational cannabis</a> in 2012, diversion of the product <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27296756">to the illegal market</a> has been a major focus of state regulatory efforts.</p>
<p>Small-scale trafficking offences in Washington State were substantially reduced. But high taxes on production and price mark-up by retailers created the conditions that ensure continuation of a thriving illegal cannabis market. </p>
<p>One <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27296756">study</a> found illegal market prices and supply chains are still preferred, especially by racial minority youth. </p>
<p>The idea that we can decrease use by young people is surely no more realistic in a regulated market than the faulty premise that criminal controls prevent the use of cannabis by youth. Displacement of illegal supply sources will be offset by legal cannabis diverted to underage consumers.</p>
<p>The quest to prevent the use of cannabis by youth, whether under prohibition or enlightened regulation, is a self-defeating one that continues the tradition of neglecting decades of sociological research. </p>
<h2>New understandings of drug use needed</h2>
<p>The change in law supports a view of cannabis consumers as rational and capable of responsible decisions. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01639620490484095">Exercising moderation and discretion</a> quite effectively prevents most users from developing cannabis use-related problems.</p>
<p>A more nuanced understanding of substance use is needed to usher in an era of new policies for drugs. And we need to move beyond this uninformed view that equates to “just say no.” </p>
<p>Evidence-based policy development for cannabis requires articulation of more informed and realistic goals of harm reduction, as opposed to crime prevention and the preoccupation with preventing use by youth.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105699/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Hathaway works for the University of Guelph. He receives funding from SSHRC. </span></em></p>Research shows that cannabis legalization is unlikely to either reduce criminal involvement or availability to youth. Could legalization be a result of neoliberalism, or a way to woo young voters?Andrew Hathaway, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1051242018-11-25T17:23:29Z2018-11-25T17:23:29ZWhat if psychedelics could revolutionize the way you die?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246758/original/file-20181121-161612-1h5xkxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A team of Canadian therapists have filed an application with Health Canada seeking permission to provide psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy to patients with terminal cancer. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>My story begins eight years ago, when I was approached by my first client requesting that I supervise her in a therapeutic session with a psychedelic medicine.</p>
<p>She had debilitating depression and anxiety brought on by a breast cancer diagnosis. Although she had survived her cancer, she couldn’t shake her terrible emotional distress. She had tried therapists, pills and a residential program. Nothing had worked.</p>
<p>Then she came across stories in the media about research at UCLA using psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) with cancer patients suffering from what was called “end-of-life distress” and how this new treatment was <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/210962?FIRSTINDEX=0&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=Charle%20S.%20Grob&hits=10&maxtoshow=&resourcetype=HWCIT&searchid=1">showing really promising results</a>.</p>
<p>She was desperate to try it for herself.</p>
<p>Well, as a licensed therapist and academic, could I help this woman? Reading the research literature, I learned that psychedelic research was becoming well-developed as a treatment for the psycho-spiritual depression and “existential anxiety” that often accompany the diagnosis of a life-threatening illness.</p>
<p>I also found myself in a bind: The science was telling me that psilocybin is the treatment most likely to benefit patients with existential anxiety when other treatments have failed; my ethical code from the B.C. Association of Clinical Counsellors tells me to act to my client’s benefit; federal law forbids me to use this treatment.</p>
<p>This is why, together with colleagues in the <a href="https://thera-psil.ca/ourteam/">Therapeutic Psilocybin for Canadians</a> project, I filed an application with Health Canada in January 2017, seeking a so-called “Section 56 exemption” — to permit us to provide psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy to patients with terminal cancer. </p>
<h2>Immediate decrease in death anxiety</h2>
<p>Recent <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5367557/">research at Johns Hopkins Medical Centre</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881116675512">New York University</a> indicates that treatment of this end-of-life distress with psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy is safe and effective.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246757/original/file-20181121-161630-17yngt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246757/original/file-20181121-161630-17yngt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=794&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246757/original/file-20181121-161630-17yngt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=794&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246757/original/file-20181121-161630-17yngt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=794&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246757/original/file-20181121-161630-17yngt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=997&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246757/original/file-20181121-161630-17yngt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=997&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246757/original/file-20181121-161630-17yngt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=997&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dinah Bazer found relief from cancer anxiety by being treated with a dose of psilocybin administered by a New York University study.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The research indicated it led to immediate, substantial and sustained decreases in depression, death anxiety, cancer-related demoralization and hopelessness.</p>
<p>It resulted in increased quality of life, life meaning and optimism. And these changes had persisted at a six-month follow-up.</p>
<p>Patients attributed improved attitudes about life and death, self, relationships and spirituality to the psilocybin experience, along with better well-being, life satisfaction and mood.</p>
<p>It is heartening to see research moving into Phase 3 clinical trials that will involve many more research participants. However, the foreseeable future for Canadians who need this game-changing therapy is not especially rosy. </p>
<p>At our current rate of progress, it may well still be years before psilocybin successfully completes Phase 3 trials and becomes available as an orthodox medicine.</p>
<h2>Therapists risk criminal penalties</h2>
<p>In the meantime, many Canadians with terminal cancer are also suffering from end-of-life distress, and are in dire need of relief — now. </p>
<p>They face serious and life-threatening illness. Their condition is terminal, so concerns about long-term effects of psilocybin are not relevant. They suffer from serious end-of-life psychological distress (anxiety and depression) to the point that it interferes with their other medical treatments. And this distress has not successfully responded to other treatments.</p>
<p>Psilocybin is currently a restricted drug, meaning that therapists risk criminal penalties if they aid or abet its possession. That means that we cannot recommend or encourage its use.</p>
<p>My professional <a href="https://bc-counsellors.org/code-of-ethical-conduct-and-standards-of-clinical-practice/">Code of Ethics</a>, however, states that our ethical duty is to act in a way that serves our clients’ “best interests.” The service we provide has to be “for the client’s benefit.” We must “take care to maximize benefits and minimize potential harm.”</p>
<h2>A compassionate, humanitarian death</h2>
<p>I agree with the Canadian medical establishment that, in ordinary circumstances, new medicines should be made available to Canadians only when they have successfully completed Phase 3 clinical trials.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246762/original/file-20181121-161644-1aohe88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246762/original/file-20181121-161644-1aohe88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=884&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246762/original/file-20181121-161644-1aohe88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=884&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246762/original/file-20181121-161644-1aohe88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=884&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246762/original/file-20181121-161644-1aohe88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1111&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246762/original/file-20181121-161644-1aohe88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1111&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246762/original/file-20181121-161644-1aohe88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1111&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In the New York University study a pill, containing either a placebo or psilocybin, was presented to the subjects in a chalice.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But I contend that the patients described here are not in ordinary circumstances. They have terminal cancer. All other treatments have failed them; they have nothing left to lose. They have the right to die; surely they have the right to try!</p>
<p>These patients deserve access to a still-experimental but promising medicine on compassionate and humanitarian grounds. Because of their extraordinary medical straits, psilocybin now for them represents a reasonable medical choice; it is necessary to them for a medical purpose.</p>
<p>Our application to Health Canada seeking a “Section 56 exemption” will be ruled on very shortly.</p>
<p>We fully expect that it will be denied — for political, not scientific reasons. Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government is likely in no mood to loosen up on psychedelics before the dust from the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=cannabis">legalization of cannabis</a> has fully settled. I think the government would like it if someone else made that decision.</p>
<h2>Violation of our rights and freedoms</h2>
<p>If our application is denied, we intend to file for a judicial review, and if necessary, a lawsuit in Federal Court challenging that denial. </p>
<p>We believe that prohibition of access to psilocybin for a legitimate medical purpose violates a citizen’s <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-15.html">Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms</a> Section 7 right to “life, liberty and security of person.” </p>
<p>This clause has already been interpreted by the Supreme Court to imply that a citizen has the right to autonomy in making health-care decisions. Charter-based arguments have already led to <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/nl/nlpc/doc/2013/2013canlii64243/2013canlii64243.pdf">success</a> in <a href="https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/15403/index.do">three recent</a> landmark <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/2016/2016fc236/2016fc236.html">medical cannabis cases</a>.</p>
<p>We argue that what applies to cannabis also applies to psilocybin:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The prohibition of … cannabis “limits the liberty of medical users by foreclosing reasonable medical choices through the threat of criminal prosecution. Similarly, by forcing a person to choose between a legal but inadequate treatment and an illegal but more effective one, the law also infringes on security of person.” Supreme Court of Canada, R. v. Smith, 2015</p>
</blockquote>
<p>One thing that unites all of us human beings is that we will die. Imagine if, when our time comes, we could all have the option to die peacefully, with acceptance, without anxiety.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105124/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce Tobin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research shows therapeutic psilocybin to be a safe and effective antidote to end-of-life anxiety and depression. Does prohibition therefore violate our right to “life, liberty and security?”Bruce Tobin, Adjunct Professor in the School of Child & Youth Care, University of VictoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1044672018-11-22T00:02:11Z2018-11-22T00:02:11ZHope for cannabis as treatment for opioid addiction<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245692/original/file-20181115-194500-9vsv6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cannabis seedlings are shown at the new Aurora Cannabis facility, November 24, 2017 in Montréal.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Canada currently finds itself at the intersection of two historic social phenomena with massive implications for public health. </p>
<p>First, after decades of restricting public access to marijuana, on Oct. 17, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4559085/marijuana-legalization-canada-midnight/">Canada became the first major industrial nation to fully legalize cannabis</a> for both medicinal and recreational usage. </p>
<p>Second, we find ourselves in the throes of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/opioid-crisis-alberta-1.4856118">a worsening opioid addiction crisis</a> that has already caused the deaths of thousands of Canadians, young and old. </p>
<p>The interactions between opioids and cannabis have been explored at the clinical and pharmacological levels for decades. But the potential of cannabis to modulate the addictive effects of a much harder opioid class drug such as heroin or fentanyl is just beginning to be explored.</p>
<p>As a neuroscientist, I have been investigating both the role of the brain’s cannabinoid system in a variety of neurophysiological processes including schizophrenia, anxiety, cognition and memory, and the underlying neurobiological mechanisms responsible for opioid addiction. For many years we considered these to be largely separate areas of inquiry. </p>
<p>However, our recent research finds that specific constituents in cannabis may have very profound effects — not only modulating the addictive effects of opioids but possibly serving as a treatment for opioid dependence and withdrawal.</p>
<h2>Inside a complicated plant</h2>
<p>Since the early 1960s, the complexity of cannabis has been gradually revealed. Cannabis is now known to contain well over 100 distinct “phytochemicals,” including Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). </p>
<p>There are also a host of other cannabinoids, along with a variety of volatile “terpene” compounds, which give different cannabis strains their distinct aromas and flavours. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245694/original/file-20181115-194516-aryelt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245694/original/file-20181115-194516-aryelt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245694/original/file-20181115-194516-aryelt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245694/original/file-20181115-194516-aryelt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245694/original/file-20181115-194516-aryelt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245694/original/file-20181115-194516-aryelt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245694/original/file-20181115-194516-aryelt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Staff members are seen at a new Overdose Emergency Response Centre opened by the provincial government at Vancouver General Hospital, in Vancouver, B.C., on December 1, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Currently, the pharmacology and psychotropic profiles of both THC and CBD are well understood. For example, THC is considered the main psychoactive chemical in marijuana, responsible for its intoxicating effects and rewarding and dependence-producing properties. In contrast, CBD has been shown to counteract the psychoactive side-effects of THC. </p>
<p>In terms of their functional effects on the brain, we have shown in research with rats that adolescent exposure to <a href="https://academic.oup.com/cercor/article/27/2/1297/3056244">THC can lead to a long-term hyperactive state of the brain’s dopamine pathways</a>. These are critical to many psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia and are also partially responsible for the rewarding and addictive properties of opioids. </p>
<p>Other pre-clinical research has shown that <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/1301127">adolescent exposure to THC can increase sensitivity to the addictive properties of heroin in later life</a>. </p>
<p>Remarkably, CBD has the exact opposite effect on dopamine. For example, we have shown that <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4854973/">CBD can block the sensitization of the brain’s dopamine system in response to drugs like amphetamine</a>. </p>
<p>Even in the adult brain, we were able to demonstrate that whereas <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ejn.13951">THC acutely activates dopamine</a>, similar to drugs like morphine and heroin, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5061893/">CBD decreases dopamine activity</a>. </p>
<p>The story becomes even more interesting when we consider the effects of cannabinoid signals in specific brain circuits.</p>
<h2>‘Kappa’ and ‘mu’ receptors</h2>
<p>Because THC strongly activates dopamine, our initial suspicions were that activating the brains cannabinoid receptors might make opioids even more addictive. </p>
<p>However, as with all research, the story is never so clear-cut. For example, when we went into specific brain areas like the prefrontal cortex or the amygdala, we found that activating the cannabinoid receptor system actually made opioids extremely “aversive” (less addictive) when measured in our rodent models, so they did not produce their rewarding effects. </p>
<p>More surprisingly, when we used drugs to block the cannabinoid receptors, the rewarding effects of opioids were strongly increased. </p>
<p>This means that cannabinoid receptors in these brain circuits were acting like a gating mechanism — controlling how the brain perceived the rewarding effects of opioids. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245691/original/file-20181115-194503-1m6mf7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245691/original/file-20181115-194503-1m6mf7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245691/original/file-20181115-194503-1m6mf7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245691/original/file-20181115-194503-1m6mf7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245691/original/file-20181115-194503-1m6mf7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245691/original/file-20181115-194503-1m6mf7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245691/original/file-20181115-194503-1m6mf7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this Oct. 2018, photo, Tim Nolen, left, participates in a relapse prevention group session with counselor Bob Benson, right, at a treatment facility run by Buffalo Valley Inc. in Nashville, Tenn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We were then able to determine that the cannabinoid receptors in these brain circuits were actually controlling the opioid addiction signals through two separate receptor mechanisms in the brain. The “kappa” receptor was responsible for making opioids aversive; the “mu” receptor enabled cannabinoids to make opioids even more addictive.</p>
<p>Long story short, drugs like THC, which can activate the brain’s cannabinoid receptors, might actually reduce the addictive potential of opioid-class drugs, especially in certain addiction-related brain circuits — by regulating how the rewarding and addictive properties of opioids are processed.</p>
<p>In contrast, CBD has been shown to strongly inhibit the brain’s dopamine pathways and may possess anti-addiction potential. There is already promising data from human clinical studies suggesting that <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4604178/">CBD may indeed serve as a promising treatment for opioid-related addictive behaviours</a>.</p>
<h2>Cannabis as addiction treatment?</h2>
<p>Clearly, the two major constituents in cannabis, THC and CBD can produce dramatically different effects within the brain, particularly in brain circuits linked to opioid addiction. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, important questions remain to be answered. We need to improve our understanding of precisely how THC and CBD are producing their effects. </p>
<p>More importantly, there is an urgent need for early phase clinical trials to explore if and how THC, CBD or perhaps combinations of both, might serve to mitigate both the rewarding, dependence-producing effects of opioids. And whether they could reverse the addiction-related adaptations that occur in the brain during the vicious cycle of opioid addiction, dependence, withdrawal and relapse.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104467/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven Laviolette receives funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the Natural Science and Engineering Council of Canada and MITACs.</span></em></p>Research shows that THC and CBD in cannabis have potential to interrupt the vicious cycle of opioid addiction, dependence, withdrawal and relapse.Steven Laviolette, Professor in the departments of Anatomy & Cell Biology and Psychiatry, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1051142018-10-16T23:42:30Z2018-10-16T23:42:30ZNow that cannabis is legal, let’s use it to tackle the opioid crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240880/original/file-20181016-165897-jjfcpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A employee holds pre-rolled joints at Buddha Barn Craft Cannabis in Vancouver, Oct. 2, 2018. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The legalization of cannabis for adult use in Canada is one of the biggest national public policy shifts that many of us will ever witness in our lifetimes.</p>
<p>This historic change in drug policy was proposed by the Canadian government as a way to promote public health, as the country grapples with some of the highest <a href="http://www.ccsa.ca/Resource%20Library/CCSA-Canadian-Drug-Summary-Cannabis-2018-en.pdf">cannabis consumption rates</a> of the developed world, including among adolescents.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Canada is struggling to contain an entirely different substance-related problem: The opioid overdose epidemic.</p>
<p>Fuelled by the <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/birth-adoption-death-marriage-and-divorce/deaths/coroners-service/statistical/illicit-drug.pdf">contamination of the illicit drug supply with fentanyl</a> and its analogues, the opioid epidemic is Canada’s gravest public health crisis since the emergence of HIV in the 1980s. Experts agree on the need for creative responses based on scientific evidence.</p>
<p>Increasingly, scientists from the fields of public health, medicine and economics are aiming to figure out if cannabis legalization could be part of the solution.</p>
<p>The possibilities are multiple — from the use of cannabis to treat chronic pain to the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13311-015-0373-7">potential of cannabis to reduce opioid cravings</a>.</p>
<p>We published a new study last month showing that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/add.14398">highly marginalized patients on “opioid agonist therapy,” with the drugs methadone or suboxone, were more likely remain on their treatment six months later if they were using cannabis on a daily basis</a>.</p>
<h2>Opioids, cannabis and pain</h2>
<p>Almost <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3298051/">one in five Canadians</a> live with some form of chronic pain. In the 1990s, pharmaceutical companies began to develop <a href="https://theconversation.com/oxycontin-how-purdue-pharma-helped-spark-the-opioid-epidemic-57331">slow-release formulations of opioids</a> (e.g. OxyContin) and marketed them as safe and effective medications for the treatment of chronic non-cancer pain.</p>
<p>Opioids are now known to carry a high risk of dependence and overdose and yet <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/sales-of-opiod-drug-prescriptionsskyrocketing/article26008639/">more than 20 million opioid prescriptions</a> are still filled each year in Canada. </p>
<p>Drug overdoses are now the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/05/upshot/opioid-epidemic-drug-overdose-deaths-are-rising-faster-than-ever.html">leading cause of death</a> among Americans under the age of 50, and prescription opioids are <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/overdose.html">involved in nearly half of these deaths.</a> </p>
<p>It is also becoming apparent that opioids might be less effective than initially thought in treating certain types of chronic non-cancer pain (<a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006146.pub2/abstract;jsessionid=F7C9469935C456F6BDD34331871E1FEA.f03t01?systemMessage=Wiley+Online+Library+will+be+unavailable+on+Saturday+01st+July+from+03.00-09.00+EDT+and+on+Sunday+2nd+July+">for example, neuropathic pain</a>).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240892/original/file-20181016-165909-u3bzk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240892/original/file-20181016-165909-u3bzk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240892/original/file-20181016-165909-u3bzk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240892/original/file-20181016-165909-u3bzk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240892/original/file-20181016-165909-u3bzk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240892/original/file-20181016-165909-u3bzk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240892/original/file-20181016-165909-u3bzk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">These 2,224 wooden stakes represent the number of confirmed overdose deaths in British Columbia over the three years prior to Sept. 29, 2017. Many of them painted with names of overdose victims, they were placed on the ground at Oppenheimer Park in Vancouver, B.C.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cannabis, derived from the Cannabis sativa plant, contains several compounds. These include tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the primary psychoactive component of cannabis) and cannabidiol (CBD). Beyond the well-known psychoactive effects of cannabinoids, new research has shown that they also interact with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/bja/aen119">systems in the body involved in the regulation of pain</a>.</p>
<p>This discovery has led researchers to investigate the potential for cannabis to treat various pain conditions for which opioids are currently first- or second-line therapies. </p>
<p>Although high-quality clinical research involving cannabis has been <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/06/its-hard-to-study-marijuanas-medical-benefits-when-its-illegal/373603/">stunted by its prohibited legal status</a> and the quality of the experimental studies in question ranges from <a href="https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD012182.pub2/full">low to moderate</a>, recent extensive reviews of experimental research on cannabinoids for chronic non-cancer pain generally agree that they offer <a href="http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/Reports/2017/health-effects-of-cannabis-and-cannabinoids.aspx">modest relief of pain</a>. </p>
<p>This begs the question: if cannabis becomes more available, do people switch from opioids to cannabis?</p>
<h2>Ground-breaking findings</h2>
<p><a href="https://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.4005">In a landmark 2014 study</a>, a team of researchers analyzed data from across the United States over a 10-year period. They found that states with legalized medical cannabis saw 25 per cent fewer opioid-related deaths than states where medical cannabis remained illegal.</p>
<p>These findings broke ground for others in the field to find associations between U.S. medical cannabis laws and reduced state-level estimates of opioid <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2676999">prescriptions</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2017.12.007">misuse and dependence</a>, as well as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.01.006">opioid-related hospitalizations and non-fatal overdoses</a>. </p>
<p>Opioid overdose trends have also changed in the aftermath of recreational cannabis legalization in some U.S. states. For example, <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2017.304059">a recent study</a> found that opioid-related deaths in Colorado were reduced (albeit modestly) relative to two comparison states in the short term following recreational cannabis legalization.</p>
<p>Although it’s tempting to conclude that increasing access to cannabis is an effective intervention against the opioid crisis, there are several reasons to be cautious when interpreting these study findings.</p>
<p>First, not all cannabis laws are created equal. For example, Colorado and Washington followed a commercialized approach to cannabis legalization with fewer restrictions around things like marketing and product sales compared to Canada’s public health framework. </p>
<p>These regulations are likely to impact the ways in which people access and use cannabis products, which could create different shifts in other substance use trends.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240894/original/file-20181016-165924-snjeas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240894/original/file-20181016-165924-snjeas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240894/original/file-20181016-165924-snjeas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240894/original/file-20181016-165924-snjeas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240894/original/file-20181016-165924-snjeas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240894/original/file-20181016-165924-snjeas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240894/original/file-20181016-165924-snjeas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prescription pills containing oxycodone and acetaminophen are shown in Toronto, Dec. 23, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Indeed, a study led by leading drug policy economists in the U.S. found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2017.12.007">the passage of a medical cannabis law on its own was not associated with changes in opioid-related outcomes</a>.
Only after the authors accounted for access to cannabis through legal provisions for retail dispensaries did they find a 25 per cent reduction in opioid-related deaths. </p>
<p>This suggests that if there’s a causal link between the law change and opioid overdoses, access to cannabis through retail outlets could be a driving factor.</p>
<p>Second — and this is the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/add.14236">subject of ongoing discussion</a> among substance-use researchers — these population-level studies are limited by their inability to observe <a href="http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2210572">individual-level changes in cannabinoid and opioid use</a>. </p>
<p>As a result, it’s impossible to conclude whether it was actually the change in law that created these shifts in opioid outcomes. To better understand this, we need to take a closer look at different sub-populations of opioid users.</p>
<h2>Pain patients and illicit users</h2>
<p>Findings from surveys with medical cannabis users across North America demonstrate a clear preference for cannabis over opioids. For example, roughly one-third of a sample of patients enrolled in Health Canada’s Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR) program in B.C. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2017.01.011">report substituting cannabis for prescription opioids.</a> </p>
<p>For chronic-pain patients using medical cannabis, this substitution effect appears even more prominent, with cannabis substitution occurring in roughly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2016.03.002">two-thirds of a sample of former prescription opioid patients in Michigan</a> who started using medical cannabis. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/can.2017.0012">In another recent study</a>, 80 per cent of medical cannabis patients in California reported that taking cannabis alone was more effective for treating their medical condition than taking cannabis with opioids. More than 90 per cent agreed they would choose cannabis over opioids if it were readily available.</p>
<p>However, two recent high-impact studies challenge our understanding of this complex topic. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(18)30110-5">A four-year study</a> of Australians on opioid therapy for chronic pain did not find significant reductions in use of prescribed opioids or severity of pain among cannabis users. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2017.17040413">A second study</a> analyzed a large U.S. dataset and found that individuals who reported cannabis use at baseline were actually more likely than non-users to start using prescription opioids non-medically and have an opioid use disorder three years later. </p>
<p>This discrepancy in findings points to a need for research exploring why this substitution effect is seen in some patient populations but not others.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240886/original/file-20181016-165894-ttz3zd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240886/original/file-20181016-165894-ttz3zd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240886/original/file-20181016-165894-ttz3zd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240886/original/file-20181016-165894-ttz3zd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240886/original/file-20181016-165894-ttz3zd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240886/original/file-20181016-165894-ttz3zd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240886/original/file-20181016-165894-ttz3zd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An officer displays bags containing fentanyl as Ontario Provincial Police host a news conference in Vaughan, Ont., in February 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But what about the relationship between cannabis and opioids among some of those most affected by the opioid crisis — people with long-term experience using illicit opioids?</p>
<p>Untreated pain and substance use have a high degree of overlap. Pain was reported by almost half of people who inject drugs surveyed in a recent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s13011-017-0112-7">San Francisco study.</a> </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3962749/">Research from our colleagues in Vancouver</a> found that under-treatment of pain in this population is common and results in self-management of pain using heroin or diverted prescription opioids. This is becoming increasingly more dangerous, as almost <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-pilot-projects-initial-results-show-fentanyl-other-substances-found/">90 per cent of the heroin</a> found in Vancouver is contaminated with fentanyl or fentanyl analogues.</p>
<p>Could there be a role for cannabis as an opioid substitute even among individuals with extensive experience using illicit opioids? <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.05.014">A study from California</a> of people who inject drugs found that those who used cannabis used opioids less often. We need more research, to know whether this is a direct result of cannabis use.</p>
<h2>Cannabis as an addiction treatment</h2>
<p>There is growing evidence for the use of cannabis in treating opioid addiction. CBD, the non-psychoactive component of cannabis, is known to interact with <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13311-015-0387-1">several receptors involved in regulating fear and anxiety-related behaviours</a>. It shows potential for the treatment of several anxiety disorders.</p>
<p>Research is also investigating CBD’s role in modulating cravings and relapses — behaviours that are tightly linked to anxiety — among individuals with opioid addiction. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13311-015-0373-7">Recent preliminary studies</a> suggest that CBD reduces opioid cravings. A <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02539823?lead=Hurd&cntry1=NA%3AUS&rank=1">larger clinical trial</a> is now under way in the United States. </p>
<p>Our own research suggests that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/add.14398">patients are more likely to stay in opioid agonist therapy during periods of intensive cannabis use</a>. </p>
<p>These findings suggest we need rigorous experimental research into the use of cannabinoids as an adjunct treatment to opioid agonist therapy.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the opioid overdose crisis is so dire in some regions that community harm reduction groups, like the High Hopes Foundation in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, are starting <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/high-hopes-foundation-1.4265850">cannabis-based substitution programs</a> that provide free access to cannabis products for drug users.</p>
<h2>Harnessing a unique opportunity</h2>
<p>Canada is the first country in the G-20 to introduce a legal framework regulating the use of cannabis by adults.</p>
<p>Legalizing cannabis will break down historic barriers to understanding its clinical and public health impacts. </p>
<p>Certain measures like rates of youth use and impaired driving will no doubt be top priorities for evaluating the new law’s impact on population health and safety. But we should also be prepared to monitor indirect public health gains, especially against the backdrop of the ongoing overdose crisis. </p>
<p>Canada should harness this opportunity to understand if, and how, cannabis legalization could fit into a multi-faceted opioid prevention and response strategy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105114/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Lake is supported by funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. She is affiliated with Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>M-J Milloy is supported by funding from the United States National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. His institution has received an unstructured gift from NG Biomed Ltd., a private firm seeking a licence to produce medical cannabis, to support him.</span></em></p>Cannabis legalization in Canada is a public health strategy. Let’s harness this opportunity to understand how cannabis could fit into a multi-faceted opioid prevention and response strategy.Stephanie Lake, PhD student in Population and Public Health, University of British ColumbiaM-J Milloy, Research Scientist, BC Centre on Substance Use and Assistant Professor in the Division of AIDS, UBC Department of Medicine, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1049152018-10-16T22:22:26Z2018-10-16T22:22:26ZLegal cannabis vs. black market: Can it compete?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240909/original/file-20181016-165900-1y4bck4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Brian Harriman, Cannabis NB president and CEO, displays some cannabis products at a Cannabis NB retail store in Fredericton, N.B., on Tuesday October 16, 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Stephen MacGillivray</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Oct. 17 launch of legal recreational cannabis in Canada brings many challenges. Retailers are now worrying about possible <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/legal-cannabis-shortage-looms-1.4845816">product shortages</a> or <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/shopify-confident-cannabis-e-commerce-kylie-jenner-1.4852862">web site glitches</a>. Governments are still debating how to handle <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-cannabis-is-legalized-lets-remember-amnesty-103419">amnesties</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/even-if-cannabis-is-legal-please-dont-toke-and-drive-97992">impaired driving</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/marijuana-in-the-workplace-what-is-unsafe-89142">workplace safety</a>.</p>
<p>But legalization day also marks the start of several interesting competitions. Some resemble those in other industries; others are unique to cannabis.</p>
<p>The most important one from a public policy perspective is the competition between legal cannabis and black markets. <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberal-marijuana-pardon-legal-1.4484496">Squeezing-out illegal suppliers</a> is a key legalization goal.</p>
<h2>The black market’s head start</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/can-government-approved-pot-beat-street-weed-90138">As I’ve noted before</a>, it’ll be tough to lure customers away from established illegal vendors. For one thing, cannabis-infused foods and drinks aren’t yet legal. Black markets will monopolize those products for another year.</p>
<p>Dried cannabis and oils are legal now but may experience shortages. But those <a href="https://ottawacitizen.com/business/local-business/smoked-out-how-canadas-pot-producers-could-overshoot-demand">should disappear</a> next year as <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/canada-marijuana-boom-bust/article37830962/">more growers become operational</a>.</p>
<p>Places to legally shop are also scarce <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/illegal-pot-shops-planning-shutdown-in-bid-to-go-legit-1.4861197">in most provinces</a>. <a href="https://infocannabis.saq.com/en/frequently-asked-questions/">Québec only has 12 stores open</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/ontario-uproots-its-plans-for-selling-weed-101855">Ontario won’t have any</a> brick-and-mortar stores until spring. By contrast, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/17-cannabis-retailers-to-open-in-alberta-oct-17-1.4850996">Alberta has a hundred stores</a> opening this month. As store counts grow, legal cannabis will grab more market share.</p>
<p>Pricing also handicaps legal vendors. They must pay fees and taxes while competing with street prices <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/181004/dq181004a-eng.htm">around $7.20 per gram</a>.</p>
<p>However, legal cannabis might eventually undercut illegal weed. Mass production is already reducing per-gram growing costs <a href="https://www.niagarathisweek.com/news-story/8697293-canntrust-celebrates-perpetual-harvest-cannabis-facility-in-pelham/">below $0.75</a> and is <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/monsanto-of-pot-how-cannabis-firms-are-seeking-to-lower-growing-costs-1.1139174">heading for $0.20</a>. <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4440818/canada-import-marijuana/">Moving production to countries</a> with lower wages and warmer climates could <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/canada-colombia-cannabis-investment-canopy-narcos-1.4819766">drop that to $0.05</a>.</p>
<p>Promotional marketing could give legal cannabis an advantage. But <a href="https://lop.parl.ca/About/Parliament/LegislativeSummaries/bills_ls.asp?source=library_prb&ls=C45&Parl=42&Ses=1&Language=E#a18">federal law restricts advertising</a> to “informational” purposes; no <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/cannabis-buddy-advertising-1.4839416">cartoon characters</a> or <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/cannabis-advertising-saskatoon-rules-1.4854883">happy puppies</a>. That makes it harder <a href="https://theconversation.com/wheres-the-weed-branding-is-essential-for-cannabis-companies-87400">to build brand reputations</a>.</p>
<p>The pre-existing “gray-market” dispensaries further complicate the legal-illegal competition. Will most <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/illegal-pot-shops-planning-shutdown-in-bid-to-go-legit-1.4861197">close or go legit</a>? If not, they’ll provide another challenge for legal retailers.</p>
<h2>New or established, storefront or online?</h2>
<p>Competition is also beginning among legal vendors, especially in Alberta. Will speciality chains, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/saskatoon-pot-shop-legal-cierra-sieben-chuback-1.4689280">independent shops</a> or <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/co-op-calgary-cannabis-alberta-1.4783237">established grocers</a> prove most popular? Will consumers prefer stores with coffee-shop vibes, clean clinical looks or retro-hippy styling?</p>
<p>A potentially fascinating competition pits brick-and-mortar versus e-commerce. In many retail sectors, physical stores have struggled (or <a href="https://theconversation.com/sears-canada-tarnishes-the-gold-standard-of-pensions-86587">gone bankrupt</a>) against online competitors. But now we’re seeing hundreds of new cannabis storefronts open, despite every province also selling pot online.</p>
<p>To succeed in this rivalry, cannabis store staff will need to offer good customer service. Online vendors must correspondingly provide <a href="https://theconversation.com/tailoring-the-customer-experience-boosts-online-sales-84941">well-designed web sites</a>.</p>
<p>Privacy concerns will influence this competition. Some consumers won’t want friends or coworkers seeing them buy cannabis. They’ll prefer the anonymity of buying online.</p>
<p>Other shoppers may worry more about <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/privacy-issue-online-pot-sales-legalization-1.4790979">online privacy</a>. Typing names and credit card numbers into cannabis web sites might lead to problems later, perhaps <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canadian-pot-industry-workers-border-1.4858534">at the U.S. border</a>. Some folks will prefer paying cash in physical shops instead.</p>
<p>Both rivalry and synergy could arise between medical and recreational cannabis. Some medical users may switch to recreational products for convenience or variety. Conversely, people trying recreational weed may find it therapeutic and later get prescriptions. Such crossovers could boost sales of both products.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240916/original/file-20181016-165897-esanp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240916/original/file-20181016-165897-esanp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240916/original/file-20181016-165897-esanp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240916/original/file-20181016-165897-esanp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240916/original/file-20181016-165897-esanp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240916/original/file-20181016-165897-esanp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240916/original/file-20181016-165897-esanp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Photographers take pictures of the products during a media preview at the Société québécoise du cannabis store Tuesday, October 16, 2018 in Montréal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Producers and products compete</h2>
<p>The big-money competition is among cannabis producers. They’ve scrambled for <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/pot-jobs-are-legion-but-canadian-cannabis-companies-struggling-to-find-workers-1.4087035">skilled workers</a>. They’ve raced to take-over greenhouses, <a href="https://tweed.com/en/our-story/visitor-centre">chocolate factories</a>, and even <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/players-paradise-sale-1.4800931">indoor soccer fields</a> for growing spaces. And their <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/is-it-too-late-to-cash-in-on-the-pot-stock-boom/">stock prices have soared</a>.</p>
<p>But all that’s been mere warm-up. Now their recreational products and business strategies <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/armstrong-pot-cannabis-aphria-1.4826728">finally go head-to-head</a>.</p>
<p>Whose products will prove most popular? Will most consumers opt for a mild buzz, powerful highs, or therapeutic effects? Will sales of cannabis buds and oils be eclipsed by value-added products like cannabis <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/entrepreneurs-edible-pot-products-1.4854442">foods</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/coke-aurora-cannabis-drinks-1.4826474">beverages</a> when those become available?</p>
<p>Which managers have built the strongest firms? What’s the best strategic balance between cost reduction, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-brands-turn-customers-into-devoted-followers-78662">distinctive branding</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/cannabis-genetic-biotech-patents-gmo-1.4854746">product research</a>?</p>
<p>There’s still the option (<a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/quebec-vows-to-fight-ottawas-pot-bill-in-the-courts">in most provinces</a>) for consumers to grow their own cannabis. This will probably resemble home winemaking: many folks try it but few stick with it. Mind you, <a href="https://thedailywant.com/seedo-hydropponic-marijuana-grow-system/">robotic grow-op boxes</a> apparently can do the gardening work for you now; a cell phone app keeps you updated on the plants’ progress.</p>
<h2>Displacing other substances?</h2>
<p>Looking more widely, we can see cannabis-alcohol competition also brewing. Some booze drinkers will switch to pot for their buzz, especially once cannabis beverages arrive. That’s one reason <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/constellation-brands-canopy-growth-1.4785786">wine</a> and <a href="https://business.financialpost.com/cannabis/cannabis-business/molson-coors-partnering-with-quebec-pot-producer-hydropothecary-to-develop-cannabis-beverages">beer</a> companies are investing in cannabis producers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240918/original/file-20181016-165924-27zqbo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240918/original/file-20181016-165924-27zqbo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240918/original/file-20181016-165924-27zqbo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240918/original/file-20181016-165924-27zqbo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240918/original/file-20181016-165924-27zqbo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240918/original/file-20181016-165924-27zqbo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240918/original/file-20181016-165924-27zqbo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The exterior of a Cannabis NB retail store is shown in Fredericton, N.B.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Stephen MacGillivray</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other substances might see similar switching. There’s evidence that legalizing pot reduces abuse of opioids and <a href="https://theconversation.com/study-cannabis-may-reduce-crack-use-77954">cocaine</a>. Might some tobacco smokers trade their cigarettes for joints too?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/now-that-cannabis-is-legal-lets-use-it-to-tackle-the-opioid-crisis-105114">Now that cannabis is legal, let's use it to tackle the opioid crisis</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>That brings up the even broader competition between provincial pot policies. Each government has chosen its own approach to legalizing cannabis sales and consumption.</p>
<p>Some provinces are keeping retailing entirely government-owned. That might bolster consumer education and harm reduction. Others are at least partly including businesses. Those may respond better to customer preferences and market trends.</p>
<h2>The least bad policy?</h2>
<p>Whose policy will work best? More precisely, which ones will come closest to achieving governments’ varied and competing societal objectives?</p>
<p>Provinces with more stores per capital will dampen their black markets best. Alberta will likely lead there, given the large number of private-sector stores expected. New Brunswick’s public-sector retail network also looks good relative to its population.</p>
<p>By contrast, Québec has just 12 government-run stores initially for 8.4 million residents. It’s put tight limits on consumption. And its new premier wants <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4513688/quebec-marijuana-age-21/">the minimum age raised to 21</a>. It’s hard to see that strategy discouraging illicit dealers.</p>
<p>Other government decisions will also be tested. Letting <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-mayor-cannabis-retail-locations-1.4844903">municipalities ban cannabis stores</a> may be pragmatic politically. But that lets <a href="https://theconversation.com/want-cannabis-stores-banned-in-your-town-read-this-first-101729">black markets continue unabated</a>.</p>
<p>Similarly, Newfoundland’s desire for a local cannabis supply is understandable. But offering a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/cannabis-supply-agreement-1.4439224">$40 million tax break</a> to get it will look expensive if cannabis surpluses eventually materialize as expected.</p>
<p>So, whether you’re a retailer, consumer, government official or producer, you’ll probably find the next few weeks challenging, interesting and constantly changing, to say the least.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104915/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael J. Armstrong does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In Canada’s newly-legal cannabis market, retailers will face tough competition from the established black market.Michael J. Armstrong, Associate professor of operations research, Goodman School of Business, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1034192018-10-15T21:32:21Z2018-10-15T21:32:21ZAs cannabis is legalized, let’s remember amnesty<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240460/original/file-20181012-109216-vqjfaz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The new cannabis legislation in Canada does not give enough thought to those who were overly punished for cannabis-related activities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jakob Owens/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Weed, spliff, cannabis, joint, blunt, Mary Jane, ganja, reefer, marijuana, pot: no matter what you call it, it is almost legal in Canada. Many will benefit from the new right to grow, sell or smoke legally and freely.</p>
<p>Before we celebrate, let’s take a moment to remember the <a href="https://news.vice.com/en_ca/article/d35eyq/black-and-indigenous-people-are-overrepresented-in-canadas-weed-arrests">Black and Indigenous peoples who have been overrepresented in Canada’s cannabis-related arrests, despite similar rates of cannabis use across racial groups</a>. According to a <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2017/07/06/toronto-marijuana-arrests-reveal-startling-racial-divide.html">2017 <em>Toronto Star</em> report:</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Black people with no history of criminal convictions have been three times more likely to be arrested by Toronto police for possession of small amounts of marijuana than white people with similar backgrounds…” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>A <a href="https://news.vice.com/en_ca/article/d35eyq/black-and-indigenous-people-are-overrepresented-in-canadas-weed-arrests"><em>Vice</em> report filed by Rachel Browne</a> looked at statistics from 2015-17 and found that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Indigenous people in Regina were nearly nine times more likely to get arrested for cannabis possession than white people during that time period.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The <a href="http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-jp/cannabis/">Cannabis Act</a> (Bill C–45), informed by <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/health/marijuana-cannabis/task-force-marijuana-legalization-regulation/framework-legalization-regulation-cannabis-in-canada.html">the recommendations of the Task Force on Cannabis</a>, creates a <a href="http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-24.5/">legal framework</a> for “controlling the production, distribution, sale and possession of cannabis in Canada.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240681/original/file-20181015-165888-1efbvdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240681/original/file-20181015-165888-1efbvdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240681/original/file-20181015-165888-1efbvdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240681/original/file-20181015-165888-1efbvdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240681/original/file-20181015-165888-1efbvdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240681/original/file-20181015-165888-1efbvdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240681/original/file-20181015-165888-1efbvdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Although use of cannabis is spread evenly among racial identities, Black and Indigenous people are more likely than white folks to be arrested for using it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thought Catalog/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The act, however, <a href="https://nowtoronto.com/news/marijuana-legalization-amnesty/">does not discuss cannabis amnesty</a>. <a href="https://www.cannabisamnesty.ca/cannabis_legalization_and_the_need_for_amnesty">Cannabis amnesty</a> is the clearing or turning over of previous convictions of <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/cannabis/article-canada-needs-to-clear-the-air-and-wipe-away-criminal-records-for/">cannabis “crimes” that occurred before the legislation took effect</a>. </p>
<p>Cannabis has a <a href="http://dankr.ca/lifestyle/racist-origins-marijuana-prohibition">long history of being used to criminalize African, Indigenous and racialized peoples</a> in Canada and <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/marijuana-prohibition-racist_n_4590190">globally</a>. The lack of redress in Canada’s Bill C-45 for those convicted of marijuana charges indicates <a href="https://news.vice.com/en_ca/article/gymnym/why-legalization-wont-change-racial-disparities-in-cannabis-arrests">Canada’s continuation of these racist policies and processes</a>. </p>
<p>While there are some critical discussions among African or Black scholars, lawyers and activists, <a href="http://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/january-2018/where-are-black-canadians-in-the-cannabis-debate/">the history of who has been criminalized has largely been ignored or silenced in the current legalization debates</a>.</p>
<h2>A continuum of colonial tragedies</h2>
<p>Despite the absence of race in the legal debates, some media and academics have linked racism and the decriminalization of cannabis in Canada.</p>
<p>Robyn Maynard’s book <a href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/policing-black-lives"><em>Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to Present</em></a> eloquently discusses the historical and current realities of anti-Black racism (and Black resistance) through state-sanctioned violence. Maynard connects <a href="https://www.theleafnews.com/news/making-amends-468883883.html">drug incarcerations with child incarcerations (in the form of Children Aids Society apprehensions) and other racist systemic practices that continue to harm mostly African and Indigenous families</a>.</p>
<p>In addition to the <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2017/07/06/toronto-marijuana-arrests-reveal-startling-racial-divide.html"><em>Toronto Star</em> and <em>Vice</em> reports</a>, articles in the <a href="https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/black-communities-seek-cannabis-amnesty-as-pot-legalization-nears"><em>National Post</em></a> and the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/07/canada-marijuana-cannabis-legalization-amnesty-drug-laws"><em>Guardian</em> </a> question why the new legislation does not address past and more recent marijuana convictions and criminalization. </p>
<p>Other news stories that link racism to the criminalization of cannabis have come out of the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/legalize-pot-racism-black-1.4257411"><em>CBC</em></a>, <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/a-bad-trip-legalizing-pot-is-about-race/"><em>Macleans</em></a> and <a href="https://nowtoronto.com/news/cannabis-indigenous-communities/"><em>Now</em></a>. But much more research and discussion about the impacts of both the criminalization and the decriminalization of cannabis on Black and Indigenous communities is needed. </p>
<p>There has been a <a href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/policing-black-lives">deliberate campaign to criminalize racialized groups in Canada</a> and the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5004736/">United States</a>, and <a href="http://dankr.ca/lifestyle/racist-origins-marijuana-prohibition">the criminalization of cannabis use has been part of this</a>. </p>
<p>Many members of the Black and Indigenous communities feel outrage, anger and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/pot-legalization-bob-marley-grandaughter-donisha-prendergast-1.4859536">distress</a> at the historically racist legislation. They now feel <a href="https://news.vice.com/en_ca/article/gymnym/why-legalization-wont-change-racial-disparities-in-cannabis-arrests">excluded from its possible resolution</a>. </p>
<h2>How long shall they kill our profits?</h2>
<p>Despite a few good articles, the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/irisdorbian/2018/07/17/as-legalization-looms-canadas-pot-industry-reels-in-the-cash/">news media</a> has mostly focused on the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4460887/canada-weed-stocks-skyrocketing-investing/">cannabis market</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240687/original/file-20181015-165921-pyn9ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240687/original/file-20181015-165921-pyn9ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240687/original/file-20181015-165921-pyn9ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240687/original/file-20181015-165921-pyn9ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240687/original/file-20181015-165921-pyn9ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240687/original/file-20181015-165921-pyn9ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240687/original/file-20181015-165921-pyn9ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cannabis is now a gentrified business in Canada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cannabis is a plant that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/tapestry/connecting-with-your-roots-for-better-and-for-worse-1.4576663/ganja-is-not-a-drug-bob-marley-s-granddaughter-on-rasta-spirituality-1.4576668">has been used globally</a> for <a href="https://www.livescience.com/48337-marijuana-history-how-cannabis-travelled-world.html">thousands of years for spiritual, recreational and medicinal purposes</a>. In many communities, <a href="http://africanhistory.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-44">cannabis is a cultural marker</a>. For example, <a href="https://www.cannaconnection.com/blog/9082-background-rastafari-and-use-of-marijuana">Rastafarian communities use cannabis in spiritual ceremonies</a>. </p>
<p>The Cannabis Act does not specifically discuss the market possibilities of this <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-wednesday-edition-1.4403187/julian-fantino-who-once-compared-weed-to-murder-defends-opening-medical-marijuana-business-1.4403194">gentrified industry</a>, but the links between <a href="https://nowtoronto.com/news/10-pot-entrepreneurs-disrupting-marijuana-white-male-monopoly/">white male elites</a> and the business of cannabis can already be seen. <em>Now</em> reports that while there are exceptions, “almost all of the country’s 80-plus licensed producers (LPs) are run by white men” and only “<a href="https://nowtoronto.com/news/10-pot-entrepreneurs-disrupting-marijuana-white-male-monopoly/">five per cent of board members of publicly traded weed companies in Canada are female</a>.” </p>
<p>By focusing <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2017/12/02/news/canada-cannabis/index.html">mainly on the money to be made from the “new legitimized” growers and sellers</a>, these stories of potential success ignore the permeating racist ideology, structures and practices that were created to systematically steal resources (including people) from Indigenous communities globally. In the conversations about money, there are few discussions about reparations for past violence and diminished opportunities.</p>
<p>Evidence from the U.S. shows that in <a href="https://www.npr.org/2016/06/29/483954157/as-adults-legally-smoke-pot-in-colorado-more-minority-kids-arrested-for-it">states where cannabis is legal, racialized folks continue to be arrested</a> at higher rates <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/opinion/boehner-marijuana-blacks-prison.html">than whites for weed possession</a>. </p>
<p>Therefore, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/29/16936908/marijuana-legalization-racial-disparities-arrests">racialized people are still criminalized for cannabis, punished and isolated from their families and communities</a>, leaving opportunities for big cannabis business in the hands of white elites. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240688/original/file-20181015-165924-1lj0nu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240688/original/file-20181015-165924-1lj0nu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240688/original/file-20181015-165924-1lj0nu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240688/original/file-20181015-165924-1lj0nu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240688/original/file-20181015-165924-1lj0nu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240688/original/file-20181015-165924-1lj0nu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240688/original/file-20181015-165924-1lj0nu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Business opportunities for cannabis are not equal because of historical laws and policing which disproportionately targeted Black and Indigenous peoples.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why Canada banned pot</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/12/01/why_canada_banned_pot_science_had_nothing_to_do_with_it.html">ban on drugs, including cannabis, in the early 20th century has links to racism and curtailed immigration</a>. For example, <a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/asset/9359/1/9780774829199.pdf">the 1908 Opium Act</a> and the <a href="https://kpulawandsociety.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/applying-critical-race-theory-to-the-chinese-immigration-act-of-1923/">1923 Chinese Exclusion Act</a> are both connected to anti-Asian sentiments, under the guise that <a href="http://www.roadtojustice.ca/laws/chinese-exclusion-act">opium would be brought by Chinese immigrants to “Canadian (white) youth.”</a></p>
<p>Emily Murphy’s <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/3kvgg8/the-mother-of-canadas-marijuana-laws-is-a-feminist-hero-and-a-racist-monster">1922 book, <em>The Black Candle</em></a> helped to connect the fear of “the other” to cannabis. Soon after her book was published, cannabis was added to the restricted list of drugs in the 1923 Opium and Narcotic Drug Act. That act and <a href="https://420intel.ca/articles/2018/04/26/exclusive-timeline-cannabis-legalization-canada">the later Narcotics Control Act of 1961 led to marijuana convictions and incarcerations</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-pot-smoking-became-illegal-in-canada-92499">How pot-smoking became illegal in Canada</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The Canadian state was <a href="https://www.facinghistory.org/stolen-lives-indigenous-peoples-canada-and-indian-residential-schools/chapter-7/canadian-genocide-search-name">built on Indigenous genocide and apartheid</a>, sanctioned by the <a href="https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_indian_act/">ruthless Indian Act</a> and the viciousness of the “enslavement of African peoples” whereby enslavement <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/black-enslavement">“was a legal instrument that helped fuel colonial economic enterprise.”</a> This history shaped the environment where Black and Indigenous peoples were deemed to be criminalized. </p>
<h2>Marijuana legalized today: Racism here to stay?</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240685/original/file-20181015-165924-1m5u20r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240685/original/file-20181015-165924-1m5u20r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240685/original/file-20181015-165924-1m5u20r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240685/original/file-20181015-165924-1m5u20r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240685/original/file-20181015-165924-1m5u20r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240685/original/file-20181015-165924-1m5u20r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240685/original/file-20181015-165924-1m5u20r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reefer Madness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Similarly, in the U.S., Mexican and Black people were blamed for cannabis use. These racist ideas were popularized by a 1936 propaganda film <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/racist-origins-marijuana-prohibition-legalization-2018-2"><em>Reefer Madness</em>, which spread racialized notions of the</a> harm Black and Mexican users had on “good (white) folks.” The passage of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/racist-origins-marijuana-prohibition-legalization-2018-2">Boggs Act in the U.S. in 1952 set mandatory sentences for marijuana convictions</a>.</p>
<p>For the cannabis movement to be truly effective, it must address amnesty, <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-the-lives-of-white-killers-more-important-than-everyday-black-folk-96064">anti-Black racism and other intersectional violence inherent in our justice system</a>. But history has taught us that <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2476792">colonial violence is insidious and continuous</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://news.vice.com/en_ca/article/gymnym/why-legalization-wont-change-racial-disparities-in-cannabis-arrests">lack of accessible race-based data on the criminalization of marijuana in Canada</a> supports the theory that discussions of racial surveillance, profiling, carding and arrests that target Black and Indigenous communities have been silenced. </p>
<p>The redress of marijuana-related convictions on African/Black and Indigenous peoples are not emphasized in Bill C-45. <a href="http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-24.5/page-2.html%23h-6">Instead, the Cannabis Act expansively outlines the behaviour that is prohibited and punishable under the new legislation</a>. </p>
<p>This emphasis ensures that the impact of cannabis amnesty will be limited and that Black, racialized and Indigenous communities will continue to face criminalization in Canada and globally, proving that old colonial rules, new elites and continuing violence still sanction the selling and use of cannabis.</p>
<p>We continue, however hopeless it sometimes feels, with the weight of thousands of ancestors behind us, resisting, persisting and demanding — for real freedom. This struggle includes the fight for amnesty for “crimes” from which others can now freely economically and socially benefit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103419/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roberta K. Timothy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Now that cannabis is almost legal in Canada, many are celebrating. Before we forget, we should remember those that have been arrested for previous crimes and push for amnesty.Roberta K. Timothy, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream. Social and Behavioural Health Science, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1018702018-08-27T23:14:12Z2018-08-27T23:14:12ZHow privatized cannabis sales threaten your privacy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233731/original/file-20180827-75972-1scbnrv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Will U.S. border officials have problems with Canadians who purchase weed online when they try to enter the country?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Blinch</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>An overlooked aspect of recreational cannabis legalization in Canada is the privacy implications of the distribution systems, especially in the online environment. </p>
<p>The privacy and security risks are substantial, and protecting the online rights of consumers needs more attention. Highly sensitive personal information will be exposed to the risks of redistribution and data breaches, and these risks are magnified if the data is stored or processed in the United States.</p>
<p>In the province of Ontario, the framework put in place by the former Liberal government has been dramatically changed by the new Doug Ford government. While the Liberal’s plan had its flaws, the problems will be exacerbated by the premier’s move to privatize retail sales.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ontario-uproots-its-plans-for-selling-weed-101855">Ontario uproots its plans for selling weed</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The previous plan was to centralize sales through the <a href="https://ocscannabisupdates.com/">Ontario Cannabis Store</a> (OCS), a subsidiary of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO). In reversing this plan, the government is essentially handing over a new and lucrative market to the private sector. </p>
<p>A 2018 <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/ca/en/pages/press-releases/articles/cannabis-report.html">Deloitte report</a> estimates Canadians will spend as much $7.17 billion on cannabis products in 2019, with about 35 per cent of that estimated to be online. Under Ford’s plan, the OCS will only handle online sales with physical retail outlets under a private model, expected to open in April 2019.</p>
<p>With this policy shift, legislation will need to be hurriedly amended and, not surprisingly, the reversal is controversial. While <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/cannabis-ontario-private-retail-1.4784703">applauded by industry interests</a>, it’s been <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4385166/marijuana-sales-ontario/">denounced</a> by <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/cannabis-ontario-private-retail-1.4784703">other groups</a>. Their concerns shouldn’t be ignored in the rush to meet the self-imposed deadlines for online and retail sales. </p>
<h2>Will consumer data be transferred to the U.S.?</h2>
<p>OCS is a public agency, but the actual online transactions <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ontario-shopify-marijuana-online-shopping-1.4531228">will be handled by Shopify</a>, a Canadian e-commerce platform. When recreational marijuana use becomes legal in October, consumers will have no choice but to use this online system until the retail stores open in 2019. This gap is where serious privacy concerns come into play.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/privacy-topics/privacy-laws-in-canada/02_05_d_15/">Canadian privacy law</a> requires that organizations holding personally identifiable information comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (<a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/laws/stat/sc-2000-c-5/latest/sc-2000-c-5.html">PIPEDA</a>). The <a href="http://canlii.ca/t/52hmg#sec3">law’s purpose</a>
is to protect Canadians regarding the collection, use, storage and distribution of their personal information. Yet data breaches are a growing concern, and different rules apply when data crosses the border.</p>
<p>With cannabis transactions, a security breach or even a <a href="https://corporate.findlaw.com/law-library/canada-s-privacy-laws-vs-the-usa-patriot-act.html">routine data transfer to a U.S. affiliate</a> could have far-reaching <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/cannabis/2018/08/19/privacy-issue-with-online-cannabis-sales-needs-watching-after-legalization-experts-say.html">negative effects on the consumer</a>. Insurance companies, employers and local police could be interested in accessing this data. </p>
<p>Personal stigma is an important issue, but perhaps the biggest problem concerns <a href="https://cira.ca/blog/state-internet/data-sovereignty-what-you-need-know-and-why-you-should-care">data transfers into the U.S.</a> Once across the border, <a href="https://corporate.findlaw.com/law-library/canada-s-privacy-laws-vs-the-usa-patriot-act.html">U.S. security agencies could obtain information</a> about the cannabis consumption patterns of Canadians who have joined the online system. This could lead to <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/3065410/legal-marijuana-in-canada-could-slow-border-crossings-expert-fears/">increased border crossing delays</a>, more intrusive questioning and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/usa-border-phones-search-1.4494371">searches</a>, and could result in orders banning Canadians from <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4140898/legal-pot-data-banned-us-border/">entering the U.S.</a> because of their cannabis consumption.</p>
<p>Shopify’s <a href="https://www.shopify.com/legal/privacy">privacy policy</a> states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“While Shopify Inc. is a Canadian company, we provide services to individuals and our technology processes data from users around the world. Accordingly, Shopify may transmit your personal information outside of the country, state, or province in which you are located.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>and</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Shopify works with a variety of third parties and service providers to help provide you with our Services and we may share personal information with them to support these efforts.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This third-party sharing includes Google Accounts, PayPal Express and Apple Pay. When a Shopify account is opened, partner accounts are established, each having their own terms and privacy policies. This framework is inappropriate for online cannabis sales because excessive data sharing with more parties increases the risk of breach, and the likelihood of data crossing into the United States.</p>
<h2>What about data breaches?</h2>
<p>The security of online personal information is a <a href="https://www.mcafee.com/enterprise/en-us/assets/reports/rp-quarterly-threats-mar-2017.pdf">growing problem</a>. Data is <a href="https://www.breachlevelindex.com/">increasingly susceptible to being breached</a>, leaked, hacked or misplaced. Breaches like those at <a href="http://fortune.com/2015/08/26/ashley-madison-hack/">Ashley Madison</a>, <a href="http://fortune.com/2018/02/11/equifax-hack-exposed-extra-data/">Equifax</a>, <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252438076/Data-breaches-revealed-at-four-US-retail-chains">Hudson’s Bay</a>, <a href="http://fortune.com/2017/10/03/yahoo-breach-mail/">Yahoo</a> and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2014/05/21/ebay-suffers-massive-security-breach-all-users-must-their-change-passwords/">eBay</a> get significant attention, but breaches have become so widespread that a <a href="https://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/EY-cybersecurity-and-the-internet-of-things/%24FILE/EY-cybersecurity-and-the-internet-of-things.pdf">2015 Ernst and Young report</a> says “…cyberattacks are no longer a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when.’”</p>
<p>PIPEDA requires security safeguards, but its language is vague. A 2017 <a href="https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/lawpub/91/">report about the Internet of Things</a> concluded the current safeguarding language needs to be strengthened to reflect technological developments. These considerations apply to online platforms like Shopify. </p>
<p>While <a href="https://news.lift.co/shopify-lcbo-plan-protect-cannabis-consumer-data/">Shopify claims it will protect its customers’ data</a>, the details of how they will do so haven’t been disclosed, and too many questions remain unanswered. How can Shopify guarantee this same high level of commitment on the part of their U.S.-based third party affiliates with whom they share information?</p>
<p>With online delivery starting in October, many important operational details must still be determined and disclosed. Since Ontario lacks the <a href="https://openmedia.org/en/data-localization-do-you-know-where-your-data">data localization requirements</a> present in British Columbia, these details are all the more urgent. For consumers to make informed choices about whether they want to risk online transactions, more transparency and certainty is needed.</p>
<h2>Privacy must not be an afterthought</h2>
<p>The problem of online security extends beyond cannabis sales and isn’t going to be resolved overnight. The same challenges confront other online retailers. But online cannabis data is particularly sensitive, and the stakes are much higher. While the former Ontario plan didn’t fully address privacy concerns, the new changes will add complexity, making things worse. </p>
<p>If consumers lack confidence that their sensitive information will be fully protected, or worry it could cross into the U.S., the system will fail. The <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/ca/en/pages/press-releases/articles/cannabis-report.html">2018 Deloitte Report</a> states emphatically that privacy concerns are vital:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Cannabis consumers worry about the privacy and security of their personal information, and they expect that information to be protected, especially online. Retailers will need to ensure they invest in robust privacy and e-commerce cybersecurity.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Without such strong confidence, cannabis users will likely continue their current purchasing practices, and the implementation of legal sales will not be effective. </p>
<p>In Ontario, the Ontario Cannabis Store/LCBO is well-positioned to implement sales in a safe and secure manner, but their online practices also need to be scrutinized. Adding so many new private retailers into the mix, as Ford is now doing with his privatization plan, will only magnify the problems. </p>
<p>Privacy concerns can’t be an afterthought; they must be <a href="https://www.ipc.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/Resources/7foundationalprinciples.pdf">designed</a> into the system from the outset, and there is little comfort this is happening.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101870/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>As a faculty member at UWO, the author has received various research grants, but none are currently held. </span></em></p>As Canada moves to legalize marijuana and online sales become commonplace, privacy concerns can’t be an afterthought; they must be built into the system from the outset. That’s not happening.Samuel E. Trosow, Associate Professor, University of Western Ontario, Faculty of Law and Faculty of Information & Media Studies, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1018552018-08-26T16:11:21Z2018-08-26T16:11:21ZOntario uproots its plans for selling weed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232752/original/file-20180820-30602-1rkdl7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Vic Fedeli, Ontario's finance minister, and Attorney General Caroline Mulroney talk to the media after announcing Ontario's cannabis retail model on Aug. 13.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/pc-government-announcement-1.4783630">Ontario has announced big changes</a> to its recreational cannabis retail plan. Government-owned Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation (OCRC) will still sell online, but will no longer open physical stores. Instead, businesses will handle all storefront sales.</p>
<p>Switching from public to private sector retailing will mean more stores. This means more convenience for Ontario cannabis consumers. That in turn will help legal cannabis compete against black market weed. But it may also increase use of the drug.</p>
<h2>Old mess, new plan</h2>
<p>The Conservative government’s action on cannabis was much needed. The Liberal plan for an <a href="https://theconversation.com/buying-pot-in-ontario-in-2018-will-be-like-buying-booze-in-1928-95823">OCRC retailing monopoly</a> was heading for disaster.</p>
<p>The first problem was consumer inconvenience. OCRC expected to open only <a href="https://theconversation.com/provinces-prepare-to-push-pot-99324">40 outlets in 2018</a> to somehow compete against black marketeers for Ontario’s 14 million residents.</p>
<p>By contrast, Saskatchewan has already licensed <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/marijuana-legalization-sask-jobs-1.4769180">51 retailers</a> to serve its one million people. Similarly, when Alberta started taking store applications to serve its four million residents, it received <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4157955/alberta-cannabis-retail-applications/">452 in the first month</a>.</p>
<p>OCRC’s second problem was slow implementation. It announced <a href="https://ocscannabisupdates.com/update-ontario-cannabis-store-appoints-president-identifies-first-addresses-for-stores-issues-product-call-for-cannabis-and-accessories-appoints-two-new-board-members/">four store addresses</a> in April but then went silent. Renovations at those sites <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4338907/ontario-cannabis-store/">began only in July</a>. No other locations or cannabis supply contracts were announced, and it had <a href="https://www.thespec.com/news-story/8818730-ontario-working-out-details-on-how-rules-around-new-pot-plan-would-be-enforced/">hired only 50 employees</a>. That’s hardly an “<a href="https://ocscannabisupdates.com/statement-from-ocrc-president-patrick-ford/">advanced state of readiness</a>” for beginning sales Oct. 17.</p>
<p>(One wonders: Did the Liberals order OCRC to pause implementation until after the June election to avoid <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/wynne-asks-for-answers-after-cannabis-store-set-to-open-near-a-school-1.3882889">controversies about store locations</a>?)</p>
<p>Ontario’s new plan lets the private sector handle all retail stores. That saves OCRC (and taxpayers) the upfront costs of creating an entire retail network.</p>
<p>OCRC will still begin online sales Oct. 17 and handle all wholesaling. Having finally <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-cannabis-store-supply-agreements-1.4792497">negotiated supply contracts</a>, it must now focus on preparing its website.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, businesses can’t open stores before April 2019. The provincial government wants time to consult stakeholders, rewrite laws and issue licences.</p>
<h2>More stores and variety</h2>
<p>Ontario consumers can expect far more stores now than OCRC would have opened. The numbers depend on how the government proceeds.</p>
<p>It can look to the Prairies for several examples. Alberta is processing applications for store licences without any specific total in mind. Saskatchewan is also issuing individual licences but limiting store numbers. It ran lotteries to select which applications to process. Manitoba instead licensed <a href="https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/manitoba-moves-to-create-legal-cannabis-retailer-depth-chart-488921441.html">four province-wide retail chains</a>.</p>
<p>Given the relative populations, if Ontario follows Saskatchewan’s lottery-limited approach it might allow some 700 cannabis stores to open in 2019. Taking Alberta’s freer-market path could easily put the number over 1,000.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232753/original/file-20180820-30596-7k1ihb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232753/original/file-20180820-30596-7k1ihb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232753/original/file-20180820-30596-7k1ihb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232753/original/file-20180820-30596-7k1ihb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232753/original/file-20180820-30596-7k1ihb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232753/original/file-20180820-30596-7k1ihb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232753/original/file-20180820-30596-7k1ihb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A vendor displays marijuana for sale in Vancouver in April 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Those numbers may look high. But Aurora Cannabis alone is eyeing <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/cannabis-ontario-private-retail-1.4784703">more than 100 potential retail locations</a>. Canopy Growth’s Hiku subsidiary is already building shops across the province it hopes can sell cannabis. <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/second-cup-cannabis-1.4787563">Second Cup may convert</a> some of its coffee outlets. Many individual entrepreneurs will also likely join in.</p>
<p>Consider too, that Ontario has more than 2,000 locations selling alcoholic beverages. Those include <a href="http://www.lcbo.com/content/lcbo/en/corporate-pages/about/media-centre/quick-facts.html#.W3oJ585Kipo">LCBO outlets</a>, beer stores and wineries.</p>
<p>The switch to private sector sales should also mean more variety and innovation. Some sellers may emphasize wide selection while others promote value or convenience. Some might look upscale while others go retro-hippy.</p>
<p>Federal marketing restrictions, however, however will limit this diversity. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nova-scotia-marijuana-marketing-1.4776392">Nova Scotia has already encountered problems</a> with its stores’ signage.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wheres-the-weed-branding-is-essential-for-cannabis-companies-87400">'Where's the weed?' Branding is essential for cannabis companies</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Stronger retailing, more delay</h2>
<p>The biggest benefit from the change will be consumer convenience. The increased store quantity and variety will help legal cannabis compete against the illegal stuff. More consumers will go legit.</p>
<p>Furthermore, more stores mean more jobs and more rent for commercial landlords.</p>
<p>On the downside, that extra retailing power could encourage more total consumption. And so, perhaps more problems like impaired driving.</p>
<p>The unfortunate delay to April will frustrate many growers and consumers, but it offers a silver lining. Many observers expect a temporary cannabis shortage when sales simultaneously begin across Canada in October. That’s despite growers’ preparations, like Canopy Growth’s <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4374319/growing-marijuana-canada-marijuana-legalization/">15-tonne cannabis stockpile</a>.</p>
<p>But by the time Ontario’s stores open in spring, increased production volumes should have turned any shortfall into a surplus. That will allow better availability and pricing.</p>
<p>The delayed openings will also more closely coincide with the legalization of cannabis edibles. Products like pot brownies and beverages will become legal sometime in 2019.</p>
<h2>Awkward contrasts</h2>
<p>Ontario’s government is delaying storefront opening partly to allow for public consultations. Such stakeholder discussions are certainly appropriate, though they may simply confirm that people’s opinions vary widely.</p>
<p>But if the Conservatives can wait and consult on vices like cannabis, why not on virtues like municipal democracy? They’ve rushed to change <a href="https://theconversation.com/fighting-doug-fords-threat-to-shrink-toronto-city-council-100798">Toronto council size</a> and regional chair selections. Surely, those changes can also wait a few months until the 2018 election campaigns are over?</p>
<p>The Conservatives are similarly looking inconsistent on the business front. Their election campaign pledged to “<a href="https://www.ontariopc.ca/plan_for_the_people">open Ontario for business again.</a>” Switching cannabis retailing from OCRC to businesses certainly fits that promise.</p>
<p>But a truly business-friendly government wouldn’t unilaterally cancel hundreds of <a href="https://theconversation.com/doug-fords-energy-shake-up-could-cost-ontario-100436">renewable energy contracts</a>. Sure, the Conservatives want to implement their own electricity strategy. But can’t they do that without punishing businesses and communities that signed onto earlier deals in good faith?</p>
<p>But putting those broader inconsistencies aside, Ontario’s new cannabis policy looks reasonable. It certainly improves upon the mess the previous government left behind.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101855/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael J. Armstrong does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ontario’s change to private sector cannabis stores will give consumers more convenience. That will mean stronger competition against the black market, but potentially higher consumption too.Michael J. Armstrong, Associate professor of operations research, Goodman School of Business, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1017292018-08-22T22:38:54Z2018-08-22T22:38:54ZWant cannabis stores banned in your town? Read this first<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232689/original/file-20180820-30578-eqjgxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A parade of bar men protest Prohibition along Yonge Street in Toronto in 1916.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Library and Archives Canada</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With Ontario Premier Doug Ford handing the province’s municipalities the right to prohibit retail cannabis stores in their communities, he has displayed a populist penchant for municipal autonomy. </p>
<p>But prohibiting cannabis retail stores, as <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/richmond-hill-markham-to-opt-out-of-retail-cannabis-sales-1.4054823">Richmond Hill and Markham have done</a>, might not be the best way to avoid the problems many associate with cannabis.</p>
<p>I say this because the idea that a municipality could ban the sale of intoxicants within their boundaries is older than Canada itself, is well-tested and has almost always been fraught with problems. </p>
<p>An 1864 law allowed municipalities <a href="https://archive.org/details/cihm_01332">to vote themselves “dry”</a> by popular referendum, permitting a simple majority of electors to vote to end the retail sale (but not the manufacture) of alcohol in their communities.</p>
<p>Many dry communities saw little improvement. Others saw increased drunkenness. </p>
<p>And so many communities repealed the local option as soon as they could.</p>
<h2>Liquor licensing</h2>
<p>After Confederation, other alternatives to deal with drunkenness emerged. In 1876, the Ontario government took over liquor licensing. Although flawed, the law significantly decreased drunkenness in many communities.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-doug-ford-should-think-twice-about-changing-booze-and-weed-laws-101249">Why Doug Ford should think twice about changing booze and weed laws</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But the temperance folks wanted Prohibition, and in 1878 the federal Liberal government passed the <a href="https://archive.org/details/canadatemperance00cana_0">Canada Temperance Act</a>. Under this improved version of the 1864 legislation, local options could be implemented at a county or city level, again by a simple majority. </p>
<p>Manufacturing could continue in dry communities, but it could not be sold there. Nothing, however, prohibited residents of dry communities, if they could afford it, from ordering booze from outside their town. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232686/original/file-20180820-30584-10up0c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232686/original/file-20180820-30584-10up0c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232686/original/file-20180820-30584-10up0c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232686/original/file-20180820-30584-10up0c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232686/original/file-20180820-30584-10up0c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232686/original/file-20180820-30584-10up0c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232686/original/file-20180820-30584-10up0c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This 1871 depiction of a drunkard hitting his wife was a popular piece of anti-booze propaganda leading up to Prohibition in North America.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Library of Congress)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By 1887, 25 counties in Ontario were dry; two years later all dry counties in the province had repealed the Canada Temperance Act.</p>
<p>Clearly, the temperance law was a failure. At the <a href="http://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.824439/publication.html">Royal Commission on the Liquor Traffic</a> that toured Ontario in 1893-94, many witnesses —ranging from judges and priests to <a href="https://archive.org/details/cihm_05160">temperance supporters</a> and liquor dealers —described how drunkenness continued in dry areas. <a href="https://archive.org/details/cihm_07967">Brewers and distillers</a> provided their account books to show how productivity actually increased with large orders from dry counties pouring in. </p>
<p>Many described the various ways that the local option law was circumvented and how drinking often seemed to get worse. </p>
<p>People who might in the past have had a glass of lager in a tavern turned to whisky because it was stronger and more easily portable. Others ordered a barrel of beer to distribute from the back of a wagon. Some told how children made a game of getting their hands on whisky that had been secreted for later use, turning up drunk and sick. Horror stories abounded, and although there was doubtless exaggeration, many of the witnesses were reliable and respectable and provided their testimony under oath. </p>
<h2>The local option a nuisance, not a deterrent</h2>
<p>The local option saw a resurgence after the provincial government passed a law in the early 1890s allowing areas smaller than a county to vote themselves dry, but they required a higher proportion of support than a simple majority. </p>
<p>This was an attempt to ensure that only places with strong support for Prohibition could become dry. Many local option laws continued well into the 20th century, notably in places like <a href="http://citiesintime.ca/toronto/story/murder-made-/">Toronto’s Junction neighbourhood</a>. But with the car replacing horse power, and the local option being implemented in small communities often adjacent to wet ones, it became more of an inconvenience than a deterrent to drinking.</p>
<p>The local option generally failed for several reasons. </p>
<p>First, booze was profitable and vendors in nearby towns could easily get it to thirsty customers in dry areas. Second, the requirement of only a simple majority to pass the law meant that a large portion of the community would look for ways around the law. Third, this system favoured the rich who could afford to have whole kegs of beer or whisky shipped to them, or could travel to other towns to buy their booze. </p>
<p>It disadvantaged the poor, whose finances and mobility were strictly limited. It became, as commentators argued, “class legislation” discriminating against the poor while only inconveniencing the rich. </p>
<p>With all these problems, even many who supported Prohibition argued that a well-controlled licensing system was preferable.</p>
<h2>Cause for pause</h2>
<p>This experience with the local option in Ontario should give today’s municipal governments pause before following the path of Richmond Hill and Markham. </p>
<p>When you institute local prohibition, you encourage illegality and inequity. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232684/original/file-20180820-30602-13viceg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232684/original/file-20180820-30602-13viceg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232684/original/file-20180820-30602-13viceg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232684/original/file-20180820-30602-13viceg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232684/original/file-20180820-30602-13viceg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232684/original/file-20180820-30602-13viceg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232684/original/file-20180820-30602-13viceg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Experience has shown that prohibiting a popular substance encourages illegal use. A woman smokes a joint at the Fill the Hill marijuana rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on April 20, 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The product you’re trying to restrict becomes more lucrative. This nurtures the very black market that the Cannabis Act is trying to squash. </p>
<p>Some people will not be able to get legal cannabis. The planned internet ordering system is convenient for people with credit cards and access to computers. It is not as convenient for poorer people. </p>
<p>So some people will have to find other ways to get their hands on cannabis, thereby encouraging the continuation of illegal sales. (Let’s save the elitist debate about whether poor people should be smoking pot for another day.) This could be dangerous, given the rise of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/15/health/new-haven-overdoses/index.html">synthetic cannabis</a> and weed <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/cannabis/article-globe-investigation-whats-in-your-weed-we-tested-dispensary/">containing dangerous contaminants</a> that wouldn’t normally be available through legal distribution channels.</p>
<p>Unless a vast proportion of residents in a community support such restrictions, such prohibition could encourage more illegality, more excess and more access to cannabis for those whom the law is designed to protect. Mayors who say that they’ve heard from people who don’t want cannabis shops in their town need to ask themselves if these voices are representative, or just loud. </p>
<p>Banning cannabis retail sales could cause more profound problems than it solves.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101729/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dan Malleck receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p>History has shown that prohibiting popular intoxicants spurs illegal and sometimes excessive use. Ontario municipalities taking up Doug Ford’s offer to ban local retail weed sales should take note.Dan Malleck, Associate Professor, Medical History, Department of Health Sciences, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1006502018-07-31T21:57:32Z2018-07-31T21:57:32ZMarijuana-friendly campuses? I don’t think so …<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229527/original/file-20180726-106496-1m5htuk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee (JOHSC) of Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia unanimously voted on March 5, 2018 to ban all smoking of marijuana products on campus — for health and safety reasons.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Flickr/Chuck Grimmett)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the run-up to the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4285946/marijuana-legal-date-october-17-canada-trudeau-confirms/">legalization of recreational marijuana in Canada</a> on Oct. 17, 2018, many <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4047471/canadian-universities-legal-marijuana-campus/">universities and colleges are still in a wait-and-see position</a> concerning marijuana use on campus.</p>
<p>One university in British Columbia, however — Thompson Rivers University (TRU) — has taken a firm and proactive stance. </p>
<p>TRU’s 20-person Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee (JOHSC), of which I am a member, unanimously voted on March 5, 2018, to ban all smoking of marijuana products on campus — for health and safety reasons.</p>
<p>Research shows that Canadian university students are <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-truth-about-cannabis-on-canadian-campuses-99674">big consumers of cannabis products</a>. Other university administrators across the country now face the tough questions of <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/education/marijuana-use-canadian-universities/">whether to allow pot to be consumed, or even sold in cannabis lounges</a>, on campus and how to weigh the existing evidence on marijuana’s effects.</p>
<h2>Up to 600 times more potent</h2>
<p>Pro-marijuana smokers on the TRU committee argued that marijuana smoke is no different than cigarette smoke and that smoking areas designated for cigarette smoke should also be used for marijuana. </p>
<p>This was also the position taken by a Thompson Rivers University safety and emergency management newsletter dated April 2016, which declared university grounds to be “…entirely smoke-free with the exception of nine designated smoking areas where smoking is allowed. The smoking policy bans the use of lit tobacco and/or medical marijuana cigarettes, cigars, pipes, smokeless tobacco, electronic cigarettes and any other similar device (outside of these areas).”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229525/original/file-20180726-106505-12rlia3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229525/original/file-20180726-106505-12rlia3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229525/original/file-20180726-106505-12rlia3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229525/original/file-20180726-106505-12rlia3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229525/original/file-20180726-106505-12rlia3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229525/original/file-20180726-106505-12rlia3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229525/original/file-20180726-106505-12rlia3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cheech and Chong perform at the Uptown Theater in Napa, CA as a part of the 4th annual BottleRock festival.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So why was the committee moved to suggest changing a long-standing smoking policy? The JOHSC was presented with the following information: First, marijuana smoked in the 1960s was only 1.5 per cent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — the psychoactive ingredient that gets you high — by weight. </p>
<p>Modern hybrid genetically modified and hydroponically grown marijuana from British Columbia — “B.C. Bud” — may contain up to 30 per cent THC by weight. This represents a 20-fold increase in “pot potency” since the 1960s. </p>
<p>Synthetic marijuana, called “Spice” or “Shatter,” is 30 times more potent than modern B.C. Bud. Thus, synthetic marijuana is 600 times stronger than the ditch weed smoked by comedy duo <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheech_%26_Chong">Cheech and Chong</a> in the 1970s. </p>
<h2>More carcinogens than tobacco smoke</h2>
<p>Why is potency important? Second-hand smoke is the reason. </p>
<p>Side-stream smokers (bystanders) can have <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014-11/documents/guidelines_exp_assessment.pdf">up to 20 per cent of active ingredients in their lungs after standing by, or walking next to, smokers</a>. </p>
<p>Non-marijuana users will not have the metabolites in their systems to deal with this level of intoxication. That is, they will not have built up a tolerance. Also, naïve bystanders cannot tell the potency of the marijuana smoked just by smell alone. Most animal studies demonstrate the ease with which such <a href="http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/322/3/1067">second- hand marijuana smoke can negatively affect behaviour</a>.</p>
<p>Most people are aware of the hazards associated with second-hand tobacco smoke. However, very few know that <a href="https://www.pearson.com/us/higher-education/program/Hancock-Drugs-and-Behavior-An-Introduction-to-Behavioral-Pharmacology-Books-a-la-Carte-8th-Edition/PGM328432.html">marijuana smoke has 300 to 500 per cent more carcinogens than tobacco smoke</a>. </p>
<p>In addition, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4827335/">marijuana has been linked to addiction, drops in grades, slips and falls and car accidents</a>.</p>
<p>The JOHSC at Thompson Rivers University is considering individual ingestion of medical marijuana — via brownies, gummy bears or pills — on campus because the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4827335">consumption of such medicinal products doesn’t negatively impact others directly</a>. </p>
<h2>From cognitive impairment to psychosis</h2>
<p>The analogy that marijuana smoking is somehow similar to cigarette smoking is flawed. Marijuana is an intoxicant and therefore is analogous to drinking alcohol on campus. Smoking marijuana should therefore fall under the <a href="http://www.bclaws.ca/civix/document/id/lc/statreg/96267_01">Liquor Control and Licensing Act Section 40, 1996, chapter 267</a>. As TRU did not allow the open consumption of alcohol in public places on campus, neither would it allow marijuana to be smoked on campus.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229526/original/file-20180726-106502-ez9yw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229526/original/file-20180726-106502-ez9yw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229526/original/file-20180726-106502-ez9yw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229526/original/file-20180726-106502-ez9yw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229526/original/file-20180726-106502-ez9yw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229526/original/file-20180726-106502-ez9yw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229526/original/file-20180726-106502-ez9yw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brandon Bartelds smokes three joints at once while attending the 4-20 annual marijuana celebration, in Vancouver, B.C., on April 20, 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Perhaps the most damning evidence against marijuana use comes from a 2014 paper in the <em>New England Journal of Medicine</em>. Although this paper <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4827335/">acknowledges that the evidence on marijuana’s impacts on the brain is complex and sometimes contradictory</a>, it reviews the available science to suggest that anyone even considering going to university would be unwise to smoke or ingest marijuana. </p>
<p>It shows that the short-term use of marijuana can make it difficult to learn and retain information. Marijuana has been linked to impaired motor co-ordination, altered judgment and risky sexual behaviour.</p>
<p>The paper profiles research showing a 25 per cent to 50 per cent risk of addiction among daily users, along with diminished life satisfaction and the potential for altered brain development and cognitive impairment (with lower IQ among those who were frequent users during adolescence). </p>
<p>Finally, marijuana has been linked with psychoses (including those associated with schizophrenia), especially among people with a genetic vulnerability in their family.</p>
<p><em>Chris Montoya gratefully acknowledges Kimberly Webster as co-author.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100650/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Member of the National Advisory Council (2016-18) and the Partnership for a Drug Free Canada.
</span></em></p>In advance of marijuana legalization in Canada, one university in British Columbia has taken a firm stance, banning all smoking of cannabis products on campus.Chris Montoya, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Thompson Rivers UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/996742018-07-16T20:48:52Z2018-07-16T20:48:52ZThe truth about cannabis on Canadian campuses<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226887/original/file-20180710-70042-1mw4jo9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Recent research shows that many students who are using cannabis for medicinal reasons are also replacing their prescription medications with it.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Canadian youth are <a href="http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/cannabis_report/en/index5.html">consuming cannabis at higher rates than in most nations of the world</a>. And now they are talking about it. </p>
<p>At the University of Calgary, 52 per cent of students responding to a “UCalgary Campus Experience with Cannabis” research survey reported cannabis use at least once in their lifetime. And 31 per cent reported cannabis use in the past six months. </p>
<p>These students surpassed the national lifetime use average of 41.6 per cent reported in the <a href="http://www.acha-ncha.org">2016 American College Health Assessment</a>. </p>
<p>As the principal investigator on this research project, I find it particularly concerning that one in 10 students reported using medicinal cannabis for numerous ailments — most of which were mental health issues. </p>
<p>While mental health concerns are a common reason for medical cannabis use, the <a href="http://www.cfp.ca/content/cfp/64/2/111.full.pdf">2018 Canadian Family Physician guidelines for prescribing medical cannabis</a> cautioned that present research is insufficient to support use for mental health conditions. </p>
<h2>Replacing prescription medications</h2>
<p>Even more concerning in our survey is that 38 per cent of students who are using cannabis for medicinal reasons are also replacing their prescription medications with it.</p>
<p>Our students are mirroring the trend we are seeing overall in the province. According to Health Canada, <a href="http://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/medical-use-marijuana/licensed-producers/market-data.html.%20Accessed%202017%20Sep%2012">Albertans are among the top users of medical cannabis in Canada</a>, with the number of registered Canadian medicinal users tripling since 2016. </p>
<p>While we do know that <a href="http://www.cfp.ca/content/cfp/64/2/111.full.pdf">cannabis holds therapeutic value</a> — for illnesses such as drug-resistant epilepsy in children, palliative and end-of-life pain, chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and spasticity due to multiple sclerosis — we also do not know enough about its long-term effects. </p>
<p>On a positive note, the federal government has acknowledged some of the knowledge gaps and uncertainties related to cannabis use and health outcomes, and <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/institutes-health-research/news/2018/01/government_of_canadainvestsinnewcannabisresearch.html">announced a $1.4 million investment for cannabis research projects</a> in January 2018.</p>
<p>In the meantime, and while we are waiting for evidence-based research, we need to take a cautionary stance until we figure out health consequences — risks and benefits — of short- and long-term cannabis use.</p>
<h2>A feeling of less risk</h2>
<p>Amid the search for evidence, we are very encouraged by the number of students who responded to the UCalgary survey: 2,212 students (55 per cent) of the 4,000 we randomly selected and invited to take part. With <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/senate-passes-cannabis-legalization-bill-in-final-vote-1.3980234">legislation looming</a>, the perceived risk of talking about personal use decreases and there is probably more of a willingness to share. </p>
<p>That feeling of lessening risk that comes with legalization may also increase use —not just recreational but also medicinal — to help mitigate the effects of some prevalent student issues, like stress.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226888/original/file-20180710-70039-4w9dcu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226888/original/file-20180710-70039-4w9dcu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226888/original/file-20180710-70039-4w9dcu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226888/original/file-20180710-70039-4w9dcu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226888/original/file-20180710-70039-4w9dcu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226888/original/file-20180710-70039-4w9dcu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226888/original/file-20180710-70039-4w9dcu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">More than 70 per cent of survey respondents reported more addiction services for cannabis would be helpful.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Engaging with students through the University of Calgary survey offers valuable insights. While the impact of legalization on Canadian university students is unknown, 70 per cent of those who were surveyed estimated that more students will use cannabis once it is legalized. </p>
<p>These are important findings for the first leg of our three-phase study. And we are now curious how students’ cannabis use will shift with legalization. At the very least, we anticipate that students will be more forthcoming about their experiences and that can only be a good thing.</p>
<h2>A pan-Canadian perspective</h2>
<p>Phase two of the study will come a year post-legislation, with a follow up survey. The final phase is a three- to five-year study which will look at cannabis use in the same group of participants over time.</p>
<p>We are now in discussions with researchers at Memorial University in Newfoundland, who are interested in conducting a cannabis survey with their students — in a partnership that will help capture a cross-national perspective.</p>
<p>Creating a larger Canadian study, and following a group of students across several Canadian campuses, during this important shift in Canadian drug policy will help inform campus cannabis policies across our country.</p>
<p>The results of our cannabis survey are also the catalyst for an educational student-engaged cannabis intervention that will be conducted this fall. </p>
<p>Over 60 per cent of respondents indicated more campus-based educational resources about cannabis were needed. And over 70 per cent reported more addiction services for cannabis would be helpful.</p>
<p>The intervention — which will follow a <a href="http://www.theworldcafe.com/key-concepts-resources/world-cafe-method/">World Cafe style</a> and is supported by the University of Calgary <a href="https://www.ucalgary.ca/wellnesscentre/">SU Wellness Centre</a> and <a href="https://www.ucalgary.ca/mentalhealth/">Campus Mental Health Strategy</a> — will be a proactive approach for facilitating student discussions on campus. </p>
<p>It will be preventative in nature, emphasizing education and uptake of harm reduction techniques outlined in <a href="https://www.cma.ca/Assets/assets-library/document/en/advocacy/cma_policy_canadas_lower_risk_cannabis_use_pd16-06-e.pdf">Canada’s Lower Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines</a> — aiming to mitigate risk and reduce negative health outcomes.</p>
<h2>Working with Calgary Police Service</h2>
<p>This summer we also entered a partnership with Calgary Police Service, which is committed to education, awareness, harm reduction and public safety surrounding cannabis legalization. In a recent letter of support, Deputy Police Chief Sat Parhar stated: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“From our perspective, the evidence gained through student-involved discussions will facilitate our services’ planning towards illegal sales of cannabis, impaired driving, public safety and internal and external training. Supporting and contributing financially towards the UCalgary Cannabis Survey and educational intervention is relevant both in timing and content.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>With the legalization of cannabis imminent, studies that focus on education, awareness, harm reduction and prevention are going to be critical from a public health perspective. </p>
<p>The findings of this research and educational intervention will be valuable across our country as other Canadian post-secondary institutions <a href="https://openparliament.ca/bills/42-1/C-45/">adapt to Bill C-45</a>. </p>
<p>The intent is to disseminate findings broadly across the post-secondary education sector so that knowledge gained can be leveraged across Canada.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99674/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacqueline Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cannabis may not be legal yet in Canada, but university students are already big consumers and increasingly willing to talk about it.Jacqueline Smith, Assistant Professor of Nursing, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/979922018-06-20T23:03:47Z2018-06-20T23:03:47ZEven if cannabis is legal, please don’t toke and drive<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223382/original/file-20180615-85830-2i86yo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cannabis use can impair driving. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/gpK9SOzNna0">(Unsplash)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A variety of conditions affect our ability to drive, including poor sleep, some prescription medications and alcohol. Cannabis is another.</p>
<p>Many people use cannabis for medical reasons, for recreation purposes, or both. Figuring out whether someone should avoid driving can be tricky because of the variety of chemicals contained within the plant, the different ways people use cannabis and the fact that regular users can develop tolerance. </p>
<p>With Canada’s <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-medication/cannabis/laws-regulations.html">legalization of cannabis</a> — and modifying its Criminal Code to cover drug-impaired driving — it’s important to figure out how to determine whether someone is impaired. </p>
<p>At Toronto Rehab, we have the most advanced driving simulator in Canada — and we are testing people’s driving abilities after they have used various types of cannabis.</p>
<h2>Underground lab</h2>
<p>The iDAPT DriverLab contains a complete Audi A3, 360-degree field-of-view projection screen, surround-sound system, one-of-a-kind rain and glare simulators and a large seven-degree-of-freedom motion system. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223044/original/file-20180613-32339-1rrcwov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223044/original/file-20180613-32339-1rrcwov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223044/original/file-20180613-32339-1rrcwov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223044/original/file-20180613-32339-1rrcwov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223044/original/file-20180613-32339-1rrcwov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223044/original/file-20180613-32339-1rrcwov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223044/original/file-20180613-32339-1rrcwov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The view from the iDAPT DriverLab at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2015, police reported 72,039 impaired driving incidents in Canada, with <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/161214/dq161214b-eng.htm">nearly 3,000 involving drug-impaired driving</a>. </p>
<p>We use the iDAPT DriverLab to assess various conditions that affect driving performance, including cannabis use for both for medical and recreational purposes. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ddy9-gdlcpM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>As of Oct. 17, it will be <a href="https://openparliament.ca/bills/42-1/C-45/">legal to consume marijuana in Canada</a>. Edible forms still won’t be approved until the federal government can set rules on packaging, potency and health warnings.</p>
<p>Under bill <a href="http://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/bill/C-46/first-reading">C-46</a>, the federal government created new provisions in the Criminal Code of Canada, making it a criminal offence to drive impaired after using cannabis. </p>
<h2>Effects of cannabis</h2>
<p>Cannabis is a plant that contains more than 500 chemicals. Two that are being used for medicinal purposes are delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, commonly known as THC, and cannabidiol, or CBD. </p>
<p>THC is the substance that gives the “high” or euphoria, while CBD reduces the psychoactive effects of THC. Both THC and CBD are used for medical purposes such as relieving pain from multiple sclerosis or nausea from chemotherapy.</p>
<p>Recent data from the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications/drugs-health-products/canadian-cannabis-survey-2017-summary.html">Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey</a> indicates that 12 per cent of Canadians aged 15 and older had used cannabis in the past 12 months. By comparison, the past-year use of other drugs, including crack, ecstasy, speed or methamphetamines, hallucinogens or heroin, was two per cent. </p>
<p>Some academics and policy makers speculate that more people will experiment with cannabis after it becomes legal, which means that more people who aren’t currently using the drug may get <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4057209/canadians-cannabis-marijuana-use-legalization/">behind the wheel</a>. A 2018 survey conducted by the <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/new-research-shows-that-19-million-ontario-motorists-have-driven-under-the-influence-of-cannabis-695133011.html">Canadian Automobile Association showed that half of current cannabis users claimed they had driven while under the influence of cannabis</a>. </p>
<p>The effects of cannabis in the brain are different from alcohol. It can affect attention, vigilance, perception of time and speed, and the use of knowledge.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-need-better-smarter-panic-free-education-on-cannabis-97641">Why we need better, smarter, panic-free education on cannabis</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Drivers under the influence of alcohol tend to drive faster and closer to the cars in front of them. But those under the effects of cannabis tend to have slower reaction times. They also drive at lower speeds and keep a larger distance from the car ahead. </p>
<p>The brain effects of cannabis also vary with how the drug is absorbed — via the lungs, digestive tract or the skin. The effects of smoked cannabis can be felt within minutes, while the effects after ingesting cannabis is only apparent after at least 30 minutes and last for hours. </p>
<p>The concentration of THC within the blood also determines the size of the effect. The more there is, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2722956/">the greater the detrimental effects</a>. </p>
<p>However, regular use of cannabis leads to tolerance. That may explain why people who use marijuana for medical purposes are generally not impaired. But it may also be due to the type of cannabis they use, and whether it has low concentrations of THC and higher concentrations of CBD. </p>
<h2>Under the influence, or not?</h2>
<p>So when it comes to cannabis and driving, how do you measure impairment?</p>
<p>THC levels can be detected using saliva, urine or blood. But the way cannabis is used — smoking or vapourizing, eating leaves (in brownies), drinking oils, using topical creams or taking pills containing synthetic cannabinoids — affect how quickly the drug enters the body and gets to the brain.</p>
<p>The inhaled forms of cannabis reach receptors in the brain within a few minutes and are able to produce the highest euphoric effects. Edibles have a delayed onset of action. Maximum THC blood levels occur between <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12648025">one and six hours later</a>, and <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430801/">the effects that may last for up to 20 hours</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223783/original/file-20180619-126537-kpv1u0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223783/original/file-20180619-126537-kpv1u0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223783/original/file-20180619-126537-kpv1u0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223783/original/file-20180619-126537-kpv1u0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223783/original/file-20180619-126537-kpv1u0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223783/original/file-20180619-126537-kpv1u0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223783/original/file-20180619-126537-kpv1u0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Academics and policy makers expect more people to use cannabis once it becomes legal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are other questions also worth asking.</p>
<p>How long should someone wait, once they use cannabis, until they drive or work in a safety-sensitive job? </p>
<p>Is there a maximum level of THC that a person can reach until they are considered impaired? How can law enforcement professionals test drivers on the roadside, to determine impairment by cannabis? And finally, what happens when drivers mix alcohol with cannabis?</p>
<p>There are no definite answers to these questions. </p>
<h2>Six-hour wait, or more?</h2>
<p>The current recommendations from the <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2017.303818">evidence-based Canadian Low Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines</a> say people should not drive for at least six hours after using cannabis. But the wait time can be longer depending on the user and the properties of the specific cannabis product used. </p>
<p>Police forces across the country have announced that they will start <a href="http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/gazette/finding-a-roadside-drug-test">testing saliva THC levels</a> when they suspect someone of cannabis-impaired driving. </p>
<p>For now, police officers are using the <a href="http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ts-sr/aldr-id-cfa-aldr-eng.htm">standardized field sobriety test</a> — a series of roadside challenges, including the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, the walk-and-turn test and the one-legged stand test. </p>
<p>However, as there is no evidence that cannabis affects the same areas of the brain as alcohol, these tests may not reveal impairment or may downplay the <a href="https://drugpolicy.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/CDPC_Cannabis-and-Driving_Evidence-Review_FINALV2_March27-2017.pdf">degree of impairment</a>.</p>
<p>Using the iDAPT Driver Lab, we plan to answer these questions and others, including whether, from a driving perspective, it is safer to treat pain with medical cannabis or opioids. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/legal-weed-an-accidental-solution-to-the-opioid-crisis-81603">Legal weed: An accidental solution to the opioid crisis?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We’ll also test in-vehicle technologies and roadside devices to detect impairment, such as cognitive tests, as well as devices that can prevent accidents, such as forward and lateral collision mitigation systems. </p>
<p>Until then, it’s probably best not to toke and drive or to operate heavy machinery.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97992/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Furlan receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to conduct research related to medical and recreational cannabis. </span></em></p>More places, including Canada, are legalizing cannabis, but how do we figure out when it’s no longer safe to drive?Andrea Furlan, Associate Professor of Medicine, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/958232018-05-01T22:15:37Z2018-05-01T22:15:37ZBuying pot in Ontario in 2018 will be like buying booze in 1928<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217030/original/file-20180501-135830-y5abqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A man smokes a large marijuana joint during the annual 4/20 marijuana celebration on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on April 20, 2018. With legalization ahead, provinces are taking different approaches in how they sell weed to the public.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The legalization of cannabis in Canada <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4102503/government-plans-to-legalize-pot-are-on-track-for-end-of-summer/">is on the horizon.</a> Canadian provinces are taking different approaches to how it will be sold to the public. </p>
<p>The Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation (OCRC) grabbed attention in April for identifying its <a href="https://lcbocannabisupdates.com/update-ontario-cannabis-store-appoints-president-identifies-first-addresses-for-stores-issues-product-call-for-cannabis-and-accessories-appoints-two-new-board-members/">first store locations</a>. But it was the accompanying <a href="https://www.doingbusinesswithocs.ca/">call for product suppliers</a> that caught my eye as a business professor. It hints at OCRC’s future relationships with cannabis growers and consumers.</p>
<h2>Provincial approaches</h2>
<p>Every province except Saskatchewan will use its liquor agency as the central distributor of recreational cannabis. The agencies will buy it from licensed growers and ship it to retailers. But <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/a-look-at-each-province-s-rules-for-marijuana-legalization-1.3894944">each province will go its own way</a> regarding how cannabis will be sold to consumers. </p>
<p>Western provinces will mostly rely on businesses for retail sales. Manitoba for example has <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/retail-cannabis-stores-manitoba-1.4538478">accepted four applications</a> for province-wide cannabis chains. Alberta saw <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-recreational-marijuana-retail-shops-1.4633369">226 applications for independent stores</a> in Calgary alone.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, eastern provinces will set up government-owned outlets. Nova Scotia will sell cannabis in <a href="https://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20180130003">nine liquor stores</a>. Quebec’s liquor agency instead will set up dedicated stores. There will be <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-cannabis-locations-1.4631610">at least four in Montreal</a>.</p>
<p>Ontario likewise created OCRC as a liquor board subsidiary. But its cannabis stores will be separate from liquor outlets.</p>
<h2>Suppliers wanted</h2>
<p>OCRC’s call most notably indicated that it doesn’t have any confirmed suppliers yet. Growers had until May 2, 2018, to submit offers. OCRC hopes shipments could begin June 1. But that optimistically leaves just four weeks to negotiate contracts and schedule deliveries.</p>
<p>By contrast, Quebec has already <a href="http://business.financialpost.com/cannabis/hydropothecary-locks-up-five-year-quebec-weed-deal-largest-to-date">signed six supply contracts</a>. Ontario lags with suppliers, despite leading in legislation. (Its law passed in December, whereas, for example, British Columbia <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-releases-new-legislation-for-recreational-marijuana-sales-1.4636755">just introduced its bill</a>.)</p>
<p>Such delays could pose problems. Some observers expect temporary <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/cannabis-weed-pot-canada-1.4598560">cannabis shortages</a> initially. If OCRC doesn’t lock down supplies soon, it risks having bare shelves.</p>
<h2>Pricing challenges</h2>
<p>Quebec’s news also suggests financial challenges for cannabis retailers. Its largest supplier expects to receive $5.40 per gram wholesale. Meanwhile, Statistics Canada estimates <a href="http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/180413/dq180413c-eng.htm">illicit retail prices</a> at $6.96.</p>
<p>That modest retail-wholesale difference suggests government retailers <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4111577/ontario-budget-2018-5-things-to-know-about-cannabis-legalization/">will lose money</a> if they try <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-government-approved-pot-beat-street-weed-90138">competing with black markets</a>. </p>
<p>Suppose OCRC charges $6.96 per gram while paying $5.40. After subtracting $1.80 of required taxes, it’ll lose $0.24 per gram. That’s even before paying operating costs.</p>
<p>Speaking of prices, politicians have repeatedly mentioned needing a legalized cannabis price that’s competitive with black markets. But OCRC asks suppliers to suggest a retail price for each product. So there will be many prices, not just one.</p>
<p>Just as fine wine costs more than basic plonk, premium cannabis will cost more than entry-level weed. Consumers can choose how to trade off quality versus price. Meanwhile, growers can compete on price to capture larger market shares.</p>
<h2>Product specifications</h2>
<p>Suppliers must also quantify their products’ chemical ingredients. These include the percentage of high-inducing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/19/health/fda-committee-marijuana-drug-epilepsy-bn/index.html">medically promising cannabidiol</a> (CBD). All product shipments will require chemistry lab reports confirming those numbers.</p>
<p>Those requirements are a good start toward improving cannabis quality. They’ll help legal products develop reliable reputations with consumers and marketing advantages over street weed.</p>
<p>They also underline how <a href="http://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/much-left-to-fight-for-beyond-legalization-pot-activists-say-as-they-mark-4-20">legalized cannabis is industrializing</a>. If existing illegal grow-ops want to go legit, they’ll need to become much more professional.</p>
<p>It’s not clear whether OCRC will test cannabis itself. It should follow the example of Ontario’s liquor board. That agency analyzed 28,000 alcoholic beverages last year.</p>
<h2>‘Temperance-era procedures’</h2>
<p>On the retail side, a split-personality experience awaits Ontario shoppers. OCRC outlets will have the modern flair of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-brands-turn-customers-into-devoted-followers-78662">computer stores and wine boutiques</a>. But they’ll follow <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Try-Control-Yourself-Regulation-Post-Prohibition/dp/0774822201">temperance-era procedures</a>.</p>
<p>When you arrive at a store, you’ll first enter a lobby. Employees will check your ID before you proceed.</p>
<p>You’ll then move into a sales room full of <a href="https://lcbocannabisupdates.com/update-new-agency-brand-name-and-logo-details-on-online-and-in-store-technology-board-of-directors/">computer screens and iPads</a>. These will display health-related info, plus product details like brand name, THC content and price.</p>
<p>The computers and employees apparently will offer more wine-like descriptions too. Would you prefer “an earthy product with citrus notes?” Or one “hand-trimmed and sorted” instead?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217036/original/file-20180501-135844-hi3rgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217036/original/file-20180501-135844-hi3rgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217036/original/file-20180501-135844-hi3rgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217036/original/file-20180501-135844-hi3rgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217036/original/file-20180501-135844-hi3rgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217036/original/file-20180501-135844-hi3rgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217036/original/file-20180501-135844-hi3rgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A vendor trims marijuana with scissors during the annual 4-20 cannabis culture celebration at Sunset Beach in Vancouver on April 20, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What you won’t see, touch or smell before purchase is actual cannabis. That’s because Ontario laws require keeping cannabis hidden. You’ll select your products sight unseen. Employees will then fetch them from storage.</p>
<p>You presumably then will slink shame-facedly out the door. Your sinful purchases will fittingly be contained in <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/health-canada-pot-proposals-consultations-1.4582948">federally mandated plain packages</a>.</p>
<p>In effect, OCRC is reviving the procedures of <a href="https://tvo.org/article/current-affairs/shared-values/buzzkillers-a-brief-history-of-the-lcbo">liquor stores from 90 years past</a>. This approach will make it tougher for legal growers to build brand reputations. That weakens their competitiveness with black markets.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wheres-the-weed-branding-is-essential-for-cannabis-companies-87400">'Where's the weed?' Branding is essential for cannabis companies</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>At least <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/cannabis-legal-new-brunswick-1.4390981">New Brunswick’s government outlets</a> will display products under glass. Consumers there can read labels and compare packaging before buying.</p>
<h2>Many unknowns</h2>
<p>The federal legalization law is <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/senate-adds-new-delay-to-ottawas-cannabis-legalization-plan/article38227907/">still under Senate review</a>. Meanwhile, federal and provincial regulations are still in draft form. So many unknowns remain.</p>
<p>For example, cannabis growers will face restrictions on advertising. But how strict will they be? Some firms aren’t waiting to learn. They’re already promoting <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/marijuana-sector-firms-get-marketing-pushback-as-legalization-looms-1.3895156">their brands</a> <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edible-cannabis-edmonton-expo-2018-1.4640472">and products</a>.</p>
<p>Another unknown is Ontario’s June 7 election result. The Progressive Conservatives <a href="http://business.financialpost.com/business/doug-ford-opens-door-to-looser-cannabis-sales-in-ontario-and-the-industry-doesnt-hate-it">may replace the whole retail concept</a> if they win.</p>
<p>With all that, the next few months will be very busy for OCRC. I wish it and its newly appointed president good luck — they’ll need it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95823/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael J. Armstrong does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Canadian provinces are choosing various approaches to cannabis sales as legalization approaches. Ontario’s will combine aspects of computer stores, wine boutiques and post-prohibition liquor outlets.Michael J. Armstrong, Associate professor of operations research, Goodman School of Business, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/924992018-03-15T22:29:49Z2018-03-15T22:29:49ZHow pot-smoking became illegal in Canada<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210279/original/file-20180314-113482-16sjfdw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Canada is on track to legalize marijuana on July 1. But why was it criminalized in the first place?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1923, when it became illegal to possess cannabis in Canada, very few Canadians would have heard of the drug, let alone tried it.</p>
<p>So why did legislators target weed?</p>
<p>Cannabis advocates <a href="https://www.cannabisculture.com/content/1997/06/01/1244">have long blamed women’s rights activist</a> Emily Murphy. Her 1922 book on the drug trade in Canada, <em>The Black Candle</em>, claimed that marijuana users “become raving maniacs” and “are liable to kill or indulge in any sort of violence.”</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210610/original/file-20180315-104635-p5w3o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210610/original/file-20180315-104635-p5w3o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210610/original/file-20180315-104635-p5w3o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210610/original/file-20180315-104635-p5w3o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210610/original/file-20180315-104635-p5w3o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=953&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210610/original/file-20180315-104635-p5w3o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=953&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210610/original/file-20180315-104635-p5w3o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=953&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Emily Murphy is seen in this photo from the 1920s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Creative Commons)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But even though <a href="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/emily-murphy/">Murphy’s drug activism</a> played an important role in strengthening Canada’s drug laws in the early 1920s, the real reason cannabis was criminalized has much more to do with Canada’s attendance at international meetings.</p>
<p>In the early 1920s, the panic over drug use had much to do with <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/archives/topic/chinese-immigration-to-canada-a-tale-of-perseverance">the drive to ban Chinese immigrants from entering Canada.</a> Drug crusaders like Murphy blamed Chinese opium sellers for leading Canadian youth to ruin. </p>
<p>In a series of articles in Maclean’s in 1920, Murphy warned that drug-addled young women would give in to the sexual demands of Chinese men, leading to the birth of “mixed-race” babies.</p>
<p>In Vancouver, her articles helped give rise to an anti-drug campaign that went on for months. As a result, the federal government passed legislation increasing the minimum penalties for the possession of drugs to six months. </p>
<p>At roughly the same time, the government stopped virtually all Chinese immigration to Canada. But this drug panic had little to do with marijuana: It was squarely aimed at Chinese traffickers and users of opium.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210295/original/file-20180314-113475-ji6yf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210295/original/file-20180314-113475-ji6yf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210295/original/file-20180314-113475-ji6yf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210295/original/file-20180314-113475-ji6yf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210295/original/file-20180314-113475-ji6yf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210295/original/file-20180314-113475-ji6yf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210295/original/file-20180314-113475-ji6yf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this 2006 photo, 97-year-old Thomas Soon and 99-year-old Charlie Quon hold government cheques, the first redress payments to Chinese head tax payers. Canada formally apologized to Chinese Canadians for the head tax, which was charged to Chinese immigrants to Canada early in the last century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(CP PHOTO/Lyle Stafford)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even so, in the middle of this drug panic, Parliament added cannabis, not opium, to the schedule of restricted drugs. The exact reason remains a mystery. </p>
<p>There was no debate in the House of Commons about the addition of cannabis. There are few records pertaining to the issue in Library and Archives Canada, and no mention of the decision in the media.</p>
<h2>Cannabis banned in 1923</h2>
<p>But controlling cannabis had been under international discussion for more than a decade, although it did not become part of an international convention until 1925, when the <a href="http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/studies/canadasenate/vol3/chapter19_1925_Geneva.htm">Geneva Convention limited Indian hemp</a> to “medical and scientific” consumption. </p>
<p>In 1929, the assistant chief of Canada’s so-called Narcotic Division, K.C. Hossick, wrote that Canada had to include cannabis on the schedule of restricted drugs because Canada had ratified the Hague Convention. </p>
<p>This was not true, as it was not until 1925 that cannabis came under international control, and Canada banned cannabis two years earlier. Even so, Hossick’s reference to the international treaties suggest the idea for adding the drug came from international discussions.</p>
<p>Much later, in 1974, Alexander B. Morrison, the assistant deputy minister of the health protection branch at Health and Welfare Canada, wrote: “It appears that Col. Sharman (chief of the narcotic division) returned from meetings of the League of Nations convinced that cannabis would soon fall under international control. In anticipation….he moved to have it added to the list of drugs controlled under Canadian law.” </p>
<p>This explanation seems far more likely than Murphy’s book chapter.</p>
<h2>Not a bestseller</h2>
<p>While Murphy’s articles in Maclean’s created panic, the book attracted little attention. By this point, officials the Department of at Health had little respect for Murphy and likely weren’t taking her views seriously. What’s more, the marijuana chapter was a minor inclusion in a long book devoted to the problems of opium and cocaine. </p>
<p>There were no convictions for the possession of marijuana in Canada for 15 years and even then, they were unusual. The drug was rarely mentioned in the media until the mid-1930s, <a href="https://www.kqed.org/lowdown/24153/reefer-madness-the-twisted-history-of-americas-weed-laws">when the anti-marijuana, “reefer madness”</a> campaign in the United States exploded, associating marijuana use with criminality, murder and insanity.</p>
<p>Even then, the drug attracted little attention in Canada.</p>
<p><a href="http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/august-29-1938-police-fight-deadly-loco-weed">In the 1930s,</a> the RCMP requested landowners who were growing hemp as a windbreaker to destroy the plant. Almost none of them were aware of the potentially psychoactive properties of the weed.</p>
<p>In his autobiography, <a href="http://www.britishempire.co.uk/forces/armyunits/canadiancavalry/rcmpharvison.htm">Clifford Harvison, a former RCMP commissioner</a>, reported that one of the few protests came from an older woman who grew the plant to feed her canaries, who sang feverishly after their meal. When the RCMP tried to destroy the plants, she shooed them away with a broom. The police wisely retreated. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210391/original/file-20180314-113465-nfhqhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210391/original/file-20180314-113465-nfhqhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210391/original/file-20180314-113465-nfhqhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210391/original/file-20180314-113465-nfhqhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210391/original/file-20180314-113465-nfhqhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210391/original/file-20180314-113465-nfhqhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210391/original/file-20180314-113465-nfhqhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Canaries apparently have a passion for hemp.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As late as the mid-1950s, a study of convicted drug criminals in British Columbia found that very few of them had ever tried the drug. It was not until the Baby Boomers <a href="https://www.cannabisculture.com/content/2015/02/13/history-cannabis-canada-part-6-1960s-psychedelics-hippies-and-summer-love">came of age in the swinging 1960s</a> that cannabis became a drug of choice. </p>
<p>Middle-class youth were outraged by the long sentences given out for marijuana possession, as were some of their parents. In 1969, amendments to the drug act made it possible for prosecutors to proceed by summary conviction. </p>
<p>This made it far more likely that possession of marijuana would be punished by a fine rather than a jail term and <a href="https://sencanada.ca/content/sen/committee/362/ille/rep/rep-nov98-e.htm">set us on the path towards legalization.</a> </p>
<p>And so after this long and fascinating history, cannabis will become legal in Canada on July 1, although <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/senate-vote-pot-bill-1.4537624">delays in the Senate mean that legal marijuana</a> will not be available until later in the summer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92499/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This research was originally supported by a grant from SSHRC.</span></em></p>Canada is legalizing marijuana on July 1. But how the drug became criminalized in the first place is an interesting saga that involves anti-Chinese racism and international influence.Catherine Carstairs, Professor and Chair, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/901382018-02-13T22:11:51Z2018-02-13T22:11:51ZCan government-approved pot beat street weed?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206105/original/file-20180213-44627-d94fwz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=154%2C22%2C4669%2C2663&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Workers produce medical marijuana at Canopy Growth Corporation's Tweed facility in Smiths Falls, Ont.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A key goal of legalizing recreational cannabis is squeezing out illegal suppliers. But how competitive will legal cannabis retailing be <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/joint-ventures-black-market-1.4528840">against established black markets</a>? </p>
<p>That’s a key question for federal and provincial politicians. <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberal-marijuana-pardon-legal-1.4484496">Governments don’t like</a> pot consumers funding organized crime. </p>
<p>That question may also interest investors. They’ve pushed up <a href="https://www.bnn.ca/marijuana">cannabis stock prices</a> and created demand for <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/funds-and-etfs/etfs/fourth-canadian-marijuana-etf-to-begin-trading-next-week/article37927503/">four cannabis exchange-traded funds</a>. <a href="http://business.financialpost.com/commodities/agriculture/u-s-tobacco-seller-buys-majority-stakes-in-pei-and-ontario-cannabis-companies-in-what-may-be-first-for-industry">Alcohol and tobacco companies</a> have bought stakes in cannabis growers. Suppliers of hydroponic equipment and <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ontario-shopify-marijuana-online-shopping-1.4531228">online retailing software</a> could benefit too. </p>
<p>To answer the question, consider the “four Ps” that marketers work with in every industry. Those are the <em>product</em> characteristics, <em>price</em> charged, <em>place</em> where sold and <em>promotion</em> activity. From this viewpoint, legal vendors have some potential advantages. But they face major challenges under current government plans.</p>
<h2>Pricing challenges</h2>
<p><em>Price</em> is the competitive element politicians mention most. In Colorado, cheap legal cannabis means <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/legal-cannabis-sales-1.4504855">black markets control only 20 per cent</a> of state sales. But in Washington state, where prices are higher, black markets capture 50 per cent.</p>
<p>In Canada, governments agree cannabis prices must be competitive. They’ve suggested <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/finance-ministers-pot-tax-1.4442540">$10 per gram</a>, including excise and sales taxes.</p>
<p>But Statistics Canada estimates <a href="https://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/13-610-x/cannabis-eng.htm">market prices fell below $7.50</a> last year, and <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/statistics-canada-cannabis-pot-price-1.4524891">farther since then</a>. <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bring-it-on-pop-up-cannabis-vendors-defy-vancouver-police-crackdown-1.4500550">Vancouver street prices</a> reportedly are near $5. And street vendors don’t charge tax.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, <a href="http://business.financialpost.com/business/most-provinces-yet-to-lock-up-marijuana-supply-as-clock-ticks-toward-legalization">most provinces lack confirmed supplies</a>, so they risk product shortages initially. Growers might prefer exporting their limited stocks to Germany’s higher-priced medical cannabis market.</p>
<p>Provincial governments could face awkward choices. If they price high to cover costs, they’ll be uncompetitive. If they price low to compete, taxpayers may end up subsidizing drug users.</p>
<p>Longer term, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/canada-marijuana-boom-bust/article37830962/">more growing capacity</a> will come online and enable lower prices.</p>
<p>Other pricing questions remain unanswered. Will all products share the same price? Or will prices differ by brand? Will each retailer set their own prices?</p>
<h2>Retailers lack convenience</h2>
<p>The <em>places</em> cannabis is sold also affect competitiveness. The western provinces will allow private-sector retailers. Ontario and its eastern counterparts are keeping retail in the public sector.</p>
<p>The public-sector plans lack convenience due to limited store numbers. That aids the black market.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://news.ontario.ca/mof/en/2017/09/ontarios-cannabis-retail-and-distribution-model.html">Ontario plans 150 outlets</a> by 2020. That’s only one per 95,000 people, about as common as Walmart. It’s enough for planned shopping trips, but not for consumers who have unexpectedly run out. </p>
<p>By contrast, Ontario has 2,067 locations selling alcoholic beverages: One per 7,000 people. Those include liquor agency outlets, beer stores and wineries. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.dwpv.com/en/Insights/Publications/2017/Quebec-Releases-Framework-for-Recreational-Cannabis">Quebec also expects 150 cannabis outlets</a> eventually, or one per 56,000 people. <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-province-retail-model-legalized-marijuana-1.4370233">New Brunswick plans 20</a>, so one per 38,000.</p>
<p>Contrast those numbers with Colorado’s. <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/joint-ventures-black-market-1.4528840">It has more than 800 stores</a>, or one per 6,250 people.</p>
<p>Private stores out West will likely be more numerous. But they’re banned from selling alcohol or tobacco. That specialization will restrict retailers’ revenue sources and the number of viable stores.</p>
<p>Provincial plans <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/cannabis-lounge-legalization-marijuana-toronto-1.4497434">have barely mentioned on-site consumption</a>. Countless bars and restaurants serve alcohol drinkers. Licensed cannabis “lounges” similarly could serve cannabis users, especially renters in non-smoking buildings and <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/niagara-falls-cannabis-questionnaire-1.4505797">American tourists</a>. Otherwise, those groups may stick with black markets.</p>
<h2>Product advantages</h2>
<p>Consumers can’t evaluate cannabis <em>products</em> without smoking them. The cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentrations vary greatly. Consumers also can’t detect contaminants like pesticides and mould.</p>
<p>Quality-assurance measures therefore could give legal cannabis products a competitive edge. Each province except Saskatchewan plans a single public-sector wholesaler. That centralization will facilitate large-scale testing.</p>
<p>Consider Ontario’s liquor agency. Its <a href="http://www.lcbo.com/content/lcbo/en/corporate-pages/about/media-centre/quick-facts.html#.Wf-8vltSypo">Quality Assurance Lab</a> examined 28,000 beverages last year, rejecting 11 per cent.</p>
<p>Quality assurance, combined with recognizable brand names, would help products develop performance reputations. Some may offer a mild buzz, others a powerful high. Consumers could learn to rely on consistently performing brands, instead of unpredictable street weed.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://theconversation.com/wheres-the-weed-branding-is-essential-for-cannabis-companies-87400">branding faces challenges</a>. Federal law <a href="https://lop.parl.ca/About/Parliament/LegislativeSummaries/bills_ls.asp?source=library_prb&ls=C45&Parl=42&Ses=1&Language=E#a19">limits package designs</a>. No people, animals or lifestyle images are allowed.</p>
<p>Some critics even <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/marijuana-cma-1.4520512">want plain packages</a>, to discourage cannabis adoption. But that would make it harder for growers to establish reputations, neutralizing a key advantage over illicit products.</p>
<p>It would also reduce growers’ incentive to boost quality, especially if prices are fixed. As near generics, they’d instead try to lower production costs. Or perhaps hike THC numbers to stand out. Should we encourage cheaper, stronger pot?</p>
<p>The lack of edibles, like brownies and beverages, is a glaring gap. Ottawa won’t legalize those for another year. Unlawful suppliers keep market control until then.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206267/original/file-20180213-44639-1qp56kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206267/original/file-20180213-44639-1qp56kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206267/original/file-20180213-44639-1qp56kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206267/original/file-20180213-44639-1qp56kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206267/original/file-20180213-44639-1qp56kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206267/original/file-20180213-44639-1qp56kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206267/original/file-20180213-44639-1qp56kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A cupcake edible is shown at a stall at a Green Market pop-up event in Toronto in December 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Promotion limits</h2>
<p>Federal rules also <a href="https://lop.parl.ca/About/Parliament/LegislativeSummaries/bills_ls.asp?source=library_prb&ls=C45&Parl=42&Ses=1&Language=E#a18">limit <em>promotional</em> activity</a>. “Informational” ads are OK. But no evoking emotions, and no lifestyle depictions involving recreation or excitement.</p>
<p>Those clauses undermine legal cannabis’ competitiveness. Good ads evoke emotions. Lifestyle images explain complex products simply. And isn’t this law about “recreational” use? Growers consequently have proposed <a href="https://www.medicalcannabiscouncil.ca/s/Guidelines-for-Cannabis-EN-Nov-6.pdf">more flexible rules</a>.</p>
<p>Because federal law prohibits self-service, sales staff will be important. Store ownership may matter here. Public-sector staff might be better at consumer education and harm reduction. Private-sector sellers may respond better to customer preferences and market trends.</p>
<p>Regarding in-store promotion, New Brunswick will display products under glass. Consumers will see packaging, read labels and visually compare products.</p>
<p>But Ontario wants things “similar to how tobacco is now sold.” That implies <a href="http://sfoa-training.com/the-law/display-promotion/">customers won’t see or touch products</a> before purchase. It’ll be tough for consumers to develop preferences, and for growers to build reputations. That further weakens legal products’ competitiveness.</p>
<h2>Prognosis is mixed</h2>
<p>Overall, governments’ retailing prospects look mixed. Legal cannabis could stand out on product quality if growers earn reliable reputations. But edibles remain absent for now. Promotion could give legal cannabis another edge, if governments loosen up the rules.</p>
<p>Black markets will initially out-compete the provinces with convenient places. That will decrease over time, especially out West. But it won’t disappear without legalized lounges. Illegal vendors may always have some price advantage. Provinces can minimize that by forgoing profits.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90138/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael J. Armstrong does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In competing with Canada’s black markets, legal cannabis has potential strengths and weaknesses. Most flow directly from governments’ policy choices.Michael J. Armstrong, Associate professor of operations research, Goodman School of Business, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/903742018-01-25T23:17:38Z2018-01-25T23:17:38ZMarijuana at school: Loss of concentration, risk of psychosis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203316/original/file-20180124-107937-xbltv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1552%2C395%2C3624%2C2669&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A 2015 study from the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse describes youth perceiving marijuana as “relatively harmless” and “not as dangerous as drinking and driving.” </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Unsplash/Conor Limkbocker)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the enduring myths about marijuana is that it is “harmless” and can be safely used by teens. </p>
<p>Many high school teachers would beg to disagree, and consider the legalization of marijuana to be the biggest upcoming challenge in and around schools. And the evidence is on their side. </p>
<p>As an education researcher, I have visited hundreds of schools over four decades, conducting research into both education policy and teen mental health. I’ve come to recognize when policy changes are going awry and bound to have unintended effects. </p>
<p>As Canadian provinces scramble to <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/a-look-at-provincial-marijuana-plans-1.3682177">establish their implementation policies</a> before the promised <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/new-laws-and-rules-coming-into-effect-in-2018-1.3731434">marijuana legalization date of July 2018</a>, I believe three major education policy concerns remain unaddressed. </p>
<p>These are that marijuana use by children and youth is harmful to brain development, that it impacts negatively upon academic success and that legalization is likely to increase the number of teen users. </p>
<h2>‘Much safer than alcohol’</h2>
<p>Across Canada, province after province has been announcing its marijuana implementation policy, focusing almost exclusively on the control and regulation of the previously illegal substance. This has provoked fierce debates over <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/3867467/marijuana-legalization-canada-progress/">who will reap most of the excise tax windfall and whether cannabis will be sold in government stores or delegated to heavily regulated private vendors</a>. </p>
<p>All of the provincial pronouncements claim that their policy will be designed to protect “public health and safety” and safeguard “children and youth” from “harmful effects.”</p>
<p>However, a 2015 report from the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse cites rates of past-year cannabis use ranging from 23 per cent to 30 per cent among students in grades seven to 12 in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and
Newfoundland and Labrador during 2012-2013. And notes that, “<a href="http://www.ccdus.ca/Resource%20Library/CCSA-Effects-of-Cannabis-Use-during-Adolescence-Report-2015-en.pdf">of those Canadian youth who used cannabis in the past three months, 23 per cent reported using it on a daily or near daily basis.</a>”</p>
<p>The report also describes youth perceptions of marijuana as “relatively harmless” and “not as dangerous as drinking and driving.” </p>
<h2>Early-onset paranoid psychosis</h2>
<p>So what does the evidence say? First, heavy marijuana use can damage brain development in youth aged 13 to 18.</p>
<p>The 2015 Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse study <a href="http://www.ccdus.ca/Resource%20Library/CCSA-Effects-of-Cannabis-Use-during-Adolescence-Report-2015-en.pdf">confirmed the direct link</a> between cannabis use and loss of concentration and memory, jumbled thinking and early onset paranoid psychosis. </p>
<p>One of the leaders in the medical field, <a href="https://medicine.dal.ca/departments/department-sites/psychiatry/our-people/faculty/phil-tibbo.html">Dr. Phil Tibbo</a>, initiator of Nova Scotia’s Weed Myths campaign targeting teens, has seen <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/haliffax-marijuana-panel-1.3407110">the evidence, first hand,</a> of what heavy use can do as director of Nova Scotia’s Early Psychosis Program.</p>
<p>His brain research shows that regular marijuana use leads to <a href="https://www.schizophrenia.ca/docs/Drs%20Phil%20and%20Crocker.pdf">an increased risk of developing psychosis and schizophrenia</a> and effectively explodes popular and rather blasé notions that marijuana is “harmless” to teens and “recreational use” is simply “fun” and “healthy.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203309/original/file-20180124-107950-gbamrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203309/original/file-20180124-107950-gbamrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203309/original/file-20180124-107950-gbamrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203309/original/file-20180124-107950-gbamrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203309/original/file-20180124-107950-gbamrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203309/original/file-20180124-107950-gbamrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203309/original/file-20180124-107950-gbamrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The miminum age for purchasing marijuana will be 18 in some Canadian provinces.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Unsplash/ Smoke & Vibe)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Damaging to academic performance</h2>
<p>Second, marijuana <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3930618/">negatively impacts neurocognitive performance</a> in teens and users perform more poorly in quantitative subjects requiring precision — like mathematics and senior science. </p>
<p>In 2017, Dutch researchers Olivier Marie and Ulf Zolitz found that the academic performance of Maastricht University students <a href="https://academic.oup.com/restud/article-abstract/84/3/1210/3091869">increased substantially when they were no longer legally permitted to buy cannabis</a>. The effects were stronger for women and low performers and academic gains were larger for courses needing numerical or mathematical skills.</p>
<p>Third, legalization of marijuana may increase the number of teen users. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180108161204.htm">Research from Oregon Research Institute</a> conducted in 2017 showed that teenagers who were already using marijuana prior to legalization increased their frequency of use significantly afterwards. <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140225112904.htm">Research from New York University</a>, published in 2014, indicated that many high school students normally at low risk for marijuana use (e.g., non-cigarette-smokers, religious students, those with friends who disapprove of use) reported an intention to use marijuana if it were legal.</p>
<p>Medical researchers and practitioners have warned us that <a href="http://www.nshealth.ca/news/bold-new-nova-scotia-based-cannabis-education-campaign-created-youth-youth-busts-through-myths">legalization carries great dangers</a>, particularly for vulnerable and at-risk youth between 15 and 24 years of age.</p>
<h2>Age of restriction</h2>
<p>Marijuana legalization policy across Canada is a top-down federal initiative driven largely by changing public attitudes and conditioned by the current realities of the widespread use of marijuana, purchased though illicit means.</p>
<p>Setting the age of restriction, guided by the proposed federal policy framework, has turned out to be an exercise in “compromise” rather than one focused on heeding the advice of leading medical experts and the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/2927387/make-21-the-minimum-age-to-smoke-pot-canadian-medical-association-urges-govt/">Canadian Medical Association (CMA).</a> </p>
<p>In a <a href="http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/3100676/CMA-Submission-Legalization-and-Regulation-of.pdf">2016 submission to the government</a>, the CMA argued that 25 would be the ideal age for legal access to marijuana, as the brain is still developing until then, but that a lower minimum age of 21 should be considered — to discourage children from purchasing marijuana from organized crime groups.</p>
<p>The report argued that: “Marijuana use is linked to several adverse health outcomes, including addiction, cardiovascular and pulmonary effects (e.g., chronic bronchitis), mental illness, and other problems, including cognitive impairment and reduced educational attainment. There seems to be an increased risk of chronic psychosis disorders, including schizophrenia, in persons with a predisposition to such disorders.”</p>
<p>In fact, <a href="http://thechronicleherald.ca/canada/1534807-a-brief-look-at-provincial-approaches-to-recreational-marijuana-sales">the minimum age for purchasing and possessing marijuana</a> is going to be age 18 in Alberta and Quebec, and 19 in most other provinces. Getting it “out of high schools” was a critical factor in bumping it up to age 19 in most provinces.</p>
<p>Every Canadian province is complying with the federal legislation, but — in our federal system – it’s “customized” for each jurisdiction. </p>
<p>The Canadian Western provinces — Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan —have opted for regulating private retail stores, while Ontario and the Maritime provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and P.E.I.) are expanding their liquor control commissions to accommodate retail sales of cannabis.</p>
<p>High school teachers, as of September 2018, may be battling a spike in marijuana use and greater peer pressure to smoke pot on the mistaken assumption that it is “harmless” at any age. </p>
<h2>Clamping down in schools</h2>
<p>For high school principals and staff, this will be <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140225112904.htm">a real test</a>. </p>
<p>By September 2018, the old line of defence that using marijuana is illegal will have disappeared. Recreational marijuana will be more socially acceptable. The cannabis industry will be openly marketing its products. High school students who drive to school will likely get caught under new laws prohibiting motor vehicle use while impaired by drugs or alcohol. Fewer students are likely to abstain when it is perfectly legal to smoke pot when you reach university, college or the workplace.</p>
<p>We have utterly failed, so far, in <a href="http://www.nshealth.ca/news/bold-new-nova-scotia-based-cannabis-education-campaign-created-youth-youth-busts-through-myths">getting through</a> to the current generation of teens, so a much more robust approach is in order. </p>
<p>“Be firm at the beginning” is the most common sage advice given to beginner teachers. Clamping down on teen marijuana use during and after school hours will require clarity and firm resolve in the year ahead — and the support of engaged and responsible parents.</p>
<p>Legalization of recreational marijuana is bound to complicate matters for Canadian high schools everywhere. Busting the “Weed Myths” should not be left to doctors and health practitioners. Pursuing research-based, evidence-informed policy and practice means getting behind those on the front lines of high school education.</p>
<p><em>This is a corrected version of a story originally published Jan. 25, 2018. The earlier story incorrectly stated that “one in five young people between 15 and 24 years of age…report daily or almost daily use of cannabis.”</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90374/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul W Bennett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Provincial policies to implement the legal consumption of marijuana are unlikely to protect children and youth. High school teachers and parents will be on the front line.Paul W Bennett, Research Associate in Education, Saint Mary’s UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/891422018-01-22T22:27:40Z2018-01-22T22:27:40ZCannabis in the workplace: We need an accurate measure of impairment<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240873/original/file-20181016-165909-15vitbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lack of clear evidence on impairment from cannabis use has led to vastly different workplace policies. Police officers in Ottawa and Vancouver face no restrictions on their off-work use of cannabis as long as they are fit for duty, officers in Calgary have been banned from use and in Toronto they face a 28-day abstinence period.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Now that marijuana is legal in Canada for recreational purposes, one question hanging in the air is whether more Canadians will smoke weed on their way to work, or step out to purchase it during their coffee break.</p>
<p>If they do, how will this impact workplace productivity, and health and safety? This question is especially pertinent in occupations involving driving or operating heavy machinery, and those involving law enforcement and the provision of medical care to the public. </p>
<p>The federal government’s <a href="https://openparliament.ca/bills/42-1/C-45/">legalization of recreational marijuana</a> raises <a href="https://www.hrpa.ca/Documents/Public/HRPA-Clearing-The-Haze.pdf">occupational health and safety concerns</a> for many employers — from banks to health authorities to construction companies, airlines to police departments.</p>
<p>At the <a href="http://www.iwh.on.ca/">Institute for Work & Health</a> (IWH), we have been reviewing the effects of various drugs that act on the central nervous system — including marijuana — on workplace injuries, deaths and near-misses. </p>
<p>What is striking is how little high-quality evidence there is on the impacts of marijuana in the workplace and how inconsistent the existing data is. </p>
<p>We urgently need high-quality observational research studies to be able to better understand the effects of marijuana on work. We also need to develop an accurate measure of impairment for use in Canadian workplaces. </p>
<h2>No published studies on legalization</h2>
<p>As far as we’re aware, no published studies to date have examined the impact of recreational marijuana legalization on the workplace. </p>
<p>The only data we’ve seen is from an <a href="http://www.questdiagnostics.com/home/physicians/health-trends/drug-testing">annual report by a large private drug-testing company in the United States</a>. It found that rates of positive cannabis tests (of urine samples) have increased most markedly in states that have enacted recreational use legislation. </p>
<p>But these rates are based on the number of tests conducted rather than on the number of workers. Therefore, it’s not clear whether this reflects an increase in the use of cannabis in the workplace.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240870/original/file-20181016-165885-oupbp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240870/original/file-20181016-165885-oupbp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240870/original/file-20181016-165885-oupbp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240870/original/file-20181016-165885-oupbp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240870/original/file-20181016-165885-oupbp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240870/original/file-20181016-165885-oupbp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240870/original/file-20181016-165885-oupbp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In many workplaces, health and safety is a life and deeath matter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Workplace injuries and accidents</h2>
<p>Several studies have examined the impact of marijuana use on workplace outcomes, but with mixed results. </p>
<p>Some have found associations between marijuana use in the workforce and work absenteeism, reduced productivity, job turnover, disciplinary measures, workplace accidents and injuries, unemployment and interpersonal conflict. </p>
<p>However, other studies have found no association with some of these outcomes. Overall, the evidence to date is quite inconsistent.</p>
<p>In 2017, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences <a href="https://www.nap.edu/catalog/24625/the-health-effects-of-cannabis-and-cannabinoids-the-current-state">published a major report on the health effects of marijuana use</a>, including impacts on injuries and accidents in a workplace setting. </p>
<p>Based on six studies, the review did not find enough evidence to either support or refute a statistical link between marijuana use and occupational injuries or accidents.</p>
<h2>No indicator for acute impairment</h2>
<p>Some of the inconsistency in the research that does exist may be due to differences in study design and methodologies and difficulties in conducting this type of research. </p>
<p>Also, much of the evidence in this area comes from post-incident investigations, where the workers involved are tested for marijuana or other drugs following a workplace incident. </p>
<p>These kinds of cases tend to be more publicized, but rigorous research with control groups (i.e., those who did not have an accident) is needed to understand whether there are more accidents among those using marijuana compared to those who are not.</p>
<p>And even though workers may test positive for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in their urine, that doesn’t necessarily mean they were impaired at the time of the accident. Marijuana <a href="https://www.mayomedicallaboratories.com/test-info/drug-book/marijuana.html">remains in the system for quite some time</a>. So someone can use marijuana on Friday night and come into work on Monday no longer impaired, yet produce positive urine tests for marijuana use. </p>
<p>That said, no consensus currently exists around the length of time someone should wait between consuming cannabis and engaging in safety-sensitive work, giving rise to employer concerns about the timing of off-work consumption. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cpha.ca/lower-risk-cannabis-use-guidelines-canada">The Lower Risk Cannabis Use guidelines for Canada</a> suggest users wait six hours or even longer before driving or operating machinery. More recently, the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Association of Canada released a position statement on cannabis use in safety-sensitive work, <a href="https://oemac.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Position-Statement-on-the-Implications-of-cannabis-use.pdf">recommending a wait time of at least 24 hours before engaging in safety-sensitive work</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240872/original/file-20181016-165921-12w8xim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240872/original/file-20181016-165921-12w8xim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240872/original/file-20181016-165921-12w8xim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240872/original/file-20181016-165921-12w8xim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240872/original/file-20181016-165921-12w8xim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240872/original/file-20181016-165921-12w8xim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240872/original/file-20181016-165921-12w8xim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">On construction sites, the capacity of employees to fulfil their work safely is of paramount importance.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the lack of clear evidence around the issue of impairment has led to the emergence of vastly different policies from employers across Canada. For instance, whereas <a href="https://ottawacitizen.com/cannabis/police-officers-decry-offensive-restrictions-on-off-duty-cannabis-use/wcm/4fff3a42-57d5-4990-ab7b-cff48b4dcfcd">police officers in Ottawa and Vancouver face no restrictions on their off-work use</a> as long as they are fit for duty when they show up for work, officers in Calgary have been banned outright from using cannabis and Toronto officers face a 28-day abstinence period. </p>
<p>Likewise, everyone working in safety-critical areas at Air Canada and WestJet, a broad group comprising flight and cabin crew members, aircraft maintenance engineers and flight dispatchers, are <a href="http://dailyhive.com/toronto/westjet-air-canada-employees-prohibited-cannabis">prohibited from using cannabis whether on- or off-duty</a>.</p>
<h2>New research directions</h2>
<p>We have some, but limited, data on the extent of workplace cannabis use in Canada (e.g. during work, on breaks and in the hours prior to a work shift). According to 2015 data from <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/health-concerns/drug-prevention-treatment/canadian-alcohol-drug-use-monitoring-survey.html">Statistics Canada’s Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Survey</a>, 15.5 per cent of the working population report using cannabis in the previous 12 months. What’s more, 6.4 per cent of the working population report using cannabis once a week or more. </p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications/drugs-health-products/canadian-cannabis-survey-2017-summary.html">Health Canada’s 2017 Canadian Cannabis Survey</a>, 21.5 per cent of cannabis users report using cannabis to get high before or at work in the previous year, including 7.7 per cent who report weekly or daily use before or at work. </p>
<p>To delve deeper into the issue, we at the Institute for Work & Health have recently conducted a survey of 2,000 Canadian workers, with funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. </p>
<p>We measured the current magnitude of cannabis consumption at work, reasons for workplace use, perceptions of its effects on work and availability in the workplace. Analysis is under way and early results will be shared later this year.
The results will importantly provide a starting point for monitoring the long-term impact of legalization on workplace health and safety issues. </p>
<p>With this survey, which was completed in June 2018, we now have a pre-legalization baseline upon which future population-level surveys of habits and attitudes around the use of cannabis at work can be analyzed. </p>
<p>We also have a cohort that can potentially take part in a longitudinal observational study. That would allow us to understand the impact of this major policy change at an individual level. The answers that come out of that research may point the way to new workplace programs and policies to influence individuals’ decisions on cannabis use at work. </p>
<p><em>An earlier Q & A version of this story was <a href="http://www.iwh.on.ca/at-work/90/many-questions-need-examining-to-establish-effects-of-legalized-cannabis-on-work-safety">previously published in At Work</a></em>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89142/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Furlan receives funding from WorkSafeBC and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nancy Carnide receives funding from WorkSafeBC and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
The Institute for Work & Health receives infrastructure support from Ontario’s Ministry of Labour. All inferences, opinions, and conclusions drawn in this report are those of the authors, and do not reflect the opinions or policies of the Province of Ontario.</span></em></p>Will offices, construction sites and medical clinics become less safe now that marijuana is legal in Canada? Our experts review the evidence, or lack of it.Andrea Furlan, Associate Professor of Medicine, Insitute for Work and Health, University of TorontoNancy Carnide, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Institute for Work & Health, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/824812017-09-13T23:38:34Z2017-09-13T23:38:34ZLegal weed: What your kids need to know<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240875/original/file-20181016-165905-ytb7uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cannabis is the most widely available and most used illegal substance in the world, and Canadian youth are among the top users.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Weed, pot, grass, marijuana — or cannabis to use the proper terminology — is now legal in Canada, after 95 years of prohibition. Anyone over the age of 18, or 19 depending on the province, can now walk into a store and buy up to 30 grams of regulated product. </p>
<p>While most Canadians approve of this new policy, many also believe the law will fail to stop more children using the drug and <a href="https://toronto.citynews.ca/2018/10/16/legal-age-cannabis-21-poll/">the legal age should be 21.</a> After all, cannabis use among Canadian minors, under prohibition, has been <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/marijuana-cannabis-minors-1.4454477">declining over the past decade.</a></p>
<p>So how should we talk to kids and teenagers about this new legal drug? What can parents do now that legalization is the new reality?</p>
<p>This is a question that I — as a cannabis researcher and father of 18-year-old twin boys — take very seriously, and for good reason. Globally, cannabis is the <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(13)61530-5.pdf">most available and most used illegal substance</a>. Canadian youth have had some of the <a href="https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/rc11_eng.pdf">highest use rates</a> in the world, even while it was an illegal substance.</p>
<p>The good news is that parents have many tools at their fingertips to protect their children and teens. Here, I offer six steps to help you navigate this tricky terrain.</p>
<h2>1. Start family discussions early</h2>
<p>The best defence against any kind of drug abuse is knowledge and education. Being properly informed about drugs is central to the <a href="https://www.hri.global/">harm reduction approach to drugs</a> that is slowly gaining momentum across Canada and other parts of the world.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185750/original/file-20170912-3782-iq5mdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185750/original/file-20170912-3782-iq5mdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185750/original/file-20170912-3782-iq5mdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185750/original/file-20170912-3782-iq5mdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185750/original/file-20170912-3782-iq5mdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185750/original/file-20170912-3782-iq5mdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185750/original/file-20170912-3782-iq5mdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This approach recognizes that drug abuse is a <a href="http://journal.cpha.ca/index.php/cjph/article/view/5206/3286">public health and education problem</a>, not a crime problem. Much of our successes in combating drinking and driving, and reducing cigarette smoking, have come through information and education initiatives. </p>
<p>Education starts at home. And it should begin as early as possible, with age- appropriate language like that used in <a href="http://www.justaplant.com/story/"><em>It’s Just a Plant</em></a>, a book designed for parents who want to talk to their children about cannabis. </p>
<p>Discussing cannabis with your child should be no different than discussing alcohol and nicotine. A frank conversation about all substances, both legal and illegal, is essential to preventing the abuse of any drug among our youth. </p>
<h2>2. Find evidence-based information</h2>
<p>Parents do need to educate themselves about drugs, rather than relying on their own personal experiences or media scare stories. There is a great deal of research available on cannabis and other drugs. But this wealth of information can understandably be overwhelming. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3LLs2tJJ8nw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Drug Free Kids Canada is a registered charity offering offers resources for parents to talk to their kids and teens about drugs.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fortunately, there are a number of informative and reliable online sources available to Canadian parents, such as the <a href="http://www.cclt.ca/Eng/Pages/default.aspx">Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction</a>, <a href="https://www.drugfreekidscanada.org/">Drug Free Kids Canada</a> and the <a href="http://www.camh.ca/en/hospital/Pages/home.aspx">Centre for Addiction and Mental Health</a>.</p>
<h2>3. Explain addiction and brain damage</h2>
<p>Kids need to know that cannabis is not harmless. And that it has <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006322316000457">become much more potent</a> over the years. The best decision, like with all legal and illegal substances, is abstinence. Undoubtedly, from a health perspective, if people can get through life without using caffeine, tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, they are better off. </p>
<p>However, because we live in a society saturated with drugs (just check out the beer and pharmaceutical ads on television or the long coffee shop lineups), we need to be pragmatic. </p>
<p>Our children will be exposed to many drugs throughout the course of their lives, including cannabis. They may decide to experiment or use more regularly. So they need to know what the potential harms are, as well as the potential benefits. They also need to know the differences between use and abuse. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185753/original/file-20170912-3750-1rw7l06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185753/original/file-20170912-3750-1rw7l06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185753/original/file-20170912-3750-1rw7l06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185753/original/file-20170912-3750-1rw7l06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185753/original/file-20170912-3750-1rw7l06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185753/original/file-20170912-3750-1rw7l06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185753/original/file-20170912-3750-1rw7l06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A free online learning module from the Canadian Centre on Substance Use explains the effects of cannabis use during adolescence.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While much more research is required, the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra1402309">key health concerns</a> with cannabis are addiction, <a href="http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ben/cpd/2014/00000020/00000025/art00014">mental illness</a>, damage to the developing brain, driving while intoxicated and cardiovascular disease. </p>
<h2>4. Talk about socializing, creativity and sex</h2>
<p>Besides discussing the harms associated with the abuse of cannabis, parents need to have an honest discussion about why people use it — without relying on outdated stereotypes or stigmatizing users. This can be more difficult for parents who don’t use cannabis themselves as they may think that such a discussion will encourage use. </p>
<p>But by explaining why and how people use cannabis, parents can demystify the drug. They can demonstrate that, like alcohol, cannabis can be used responsibly by most people in a variety of social contexts. </p>
<p>This “normalizing” of cannabis reduces its status as a choice for the rebellious. It makes the formerly mysterious and taboo drug rather boring and mundane. This may help explain why cannabis use by <a href="https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/news/HKCS2015">youth in Colorado</a> has not increased significantly since the drug was legalized.</p>
<p>So why do people use cannabis recreationally? </p>
<p>For centuries, people all over the globe have used cannabis for many reasons. The research has found that — like alcohol users — most use cannabis as a rational choice to enhance certain activities. </p>
<p>When used properly, it can help with relaxation and concentration, making many activities more enjoyable. Eating, listening to music, socializing, watching movies, playing sports, having sex and being creative are some things some people say cannabis makes more enjoyable. </p>
<p>Sometimes <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10826080701884911">people use cannabis</a> to enhance spiritual experiences or to make mundane tasks like chores more fun. But most importantly, most users recognize that there’s a time and place for use and have integrated it into their lives without forgoing their daily obligations and responsibilities. </p>
<h2>5. Teach responsible cannabis use</h2>
<p>The responsible use of cannabis is identical to the responsible use of alcohol. The key principles are: understand the effects of <a href="https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/can.2015.29003.ebr">cannabinoid concentration – especially THC and CBD - and terpene concentration</a>; avoid mixing with other drugs; use in a safe environment; use in moderation; don’t let use interfere with responsibilities; and don’t use in contexts that may endanger the lives of others, such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aheT652ZYEw">driving while under the influence</a>.</p>
<p>Many of the health concerns relating to cannabis are associated with heavy chronic use or, in other words, abuse of the drug. As with most things in life, moderation is key. Moderation — in frequency and amount — is important for the responsible use of any substance. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2015.03.008">Recent research</a> suggests that many cannabis users, like alcohol users, <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/17459261311310844">use responsibly</a>. If parents reinforce the importance of responsible use, their children will be far less likely to suffer the harms associated with cannabis.</p>
<h2>6. Just say “know,” not “no!”</h2>
<p>History has shown us that the war on drugs has been an abysmal failure. Prohibition hasn’t prevented people — young or old — from using drugs. Prohibition created a black market, gang wars, corruption and dangerous products. </p>
<p>A harm reduction approach to cannabis regulates a safer quality product and focuses on informing people about the potential risks and benefits of cannabis use. Educating our youth about cannabis and responsible use — through talking with them and listening to them — will be far more effective and safer than trying to stop them using it.</p>
<p>When it comes to kids and weed, it’s better to say <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAfbfqn7-ZA">“know”</a> than “just say no!”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82481/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geraint Osborne received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (2011-2015) and Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta (2004-5). </span></em></p>Parents can help protect their kids from cannabis abuse by openly discussing the health risks, the pleasures and the responsible ways to use the drug.Geraint Osborne, Professor of Sociology, University of AlbertaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.