Prevalence and correlates of marijuana use in Canada, 2012

Abstract

Based on data from the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey--Mental Health, past-year and lifetime marijuana use among the household population aged 15 or older in the 10 provinces was examined. In 2012, 42.5% of the population reported having ever used marijuana, and 12.2% reported use in the past year. At 33.3%, the prevalence of past-year marijuana use was higher among 18- to 24-year-olds than among other age groups (20.0% at ages 15 to 17, 15.6% at ages 25 to 44, 6.7% at ages 45 to 64, and 0.8% at age 65 or older). Past-year use was higher in British Columbia and Nova Scotia and lower in Saskatchewan, compared with the rest of Canada. While the overall percentage of people reporting past-year use in 2012 was unchanged from 2002, the percentage of males who had ever used marijuana rose from 47.0% to 49.4%; among females, the prevalence of lifetime use remained stable at 36%.

Keywords: Cannabis; illicit drugs; risk behaviour; substance use.