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Articles on Cannabis use

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Substance use during pregnancy can lead to a broad array of harmful effects. Liudmila Chernetska/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Hundreds of thousands of US infants every year pay the consequences of prenatal exposure to drugs, a growing crisis particularly in rural America

Many people wrongly assume that cannabis use during pregnancy is safe. Research is increasingly documenting a host of serious health harms from prenatal exposure to cannabis and other substances.
Much of what is known about the health effects of cannabis legalization in Canada is based on outdated and often irrelevant data. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

3 years after legalization, we have shockingly little information about how it changed cannabis use and health harms

The government’s advice to cannabis users is to start low and go slow. Given the potential harms of a rapidly expanding retail market, it should heed its own advice and move slowly on regulatory changes.
People gather in Trinity Bellwoods park for a weed bubble blowing event in Toronto on Oct. 17, 2018, the day cannabis became legal in Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

Cannabis education should aim to normalize — not prevent — safe and legal use

If the goal of cannabis legalization was to protect public health and safety, education and awareness campaigns must normalize safe cannabis use, not stop cannabis consumption.
A lone cyclist rides past the University of Toronto campus during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto on June 10, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

For university students, COVID-19 stress creates perfect conditions for mental health crises

University students had high rates of mental health issues before the pandemic. The additional stressors of COVID-19 and social isolation will make them even more vulnerable over the winter.
Alcohol companies are part owners of cannabis production overseas already, and they have the resources to influence policy development. from www.shutterstock.com

Why NZ’s cannabis bill needs to stop industry from influencing policy

The draft New Zealand cannabis law proposes a ban on advertising, but includes no reference to marketing via social media, where most alcohol marketing now takes place.
Evidence suggests that Muslim men in France have been disproportionately arrested and jailed for cannabis-related crimes since the drug became illegal in 1970. Francisco Osorio/flickr

French cannabis legalization debate ignores race, religion and the mass incarceration of Muslims

Muslims make up 9% of France’s population and half of all its prisoners – many convicted on drug charges. But social justice isn’t part of the country’s growing debate on legalization.

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