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. 2023 Nov;118(11):2062-2072.
doi: 10.1111/add.16274. Epub 2023 Jun 28.

The implementation and public health impacts of cannabis legalization in Canada: a systematic review

Wayne Hall  1 , Daniel Stjepanović  1 , Danielle Dawson  1 , Janni Leung  1
Affiliations

The implementation and public health impacts of cannabis legalization in Canada: a systematic review

Wayne Hall et al. Addiction. 2023 Nov.

Abstract

Aims: We provide a narrative summary of research on changes in cannabis arrests, cannabis products and prices, cannabis use and cannabis-related harm since legalization.

Methods: We systematically searched for research on the impacts of cannabis legalization in Canada in PubMed, Embase, Statistics Canada and government websites and Google Scholar, published between 2006 and 2021.

Results: Cannabis legalization in Canada has been followed by substantial reductions in cannabis-related arrests and cannabis prices. It has also increased adults' access to a diverse range of cannabis products, including edibles and extracts. The prevalence of cannabis use among young adults has increased, but there have been no marked increases or decreases in use among high school students or changes in the prevalence of daily or near-daily use. Legalization has been associated with increased adult hospital attendances for psychiatric distress and vomiting, unintentional ingestion of edible cannabis products by children and hospitalizations for cannabis use disorders in adults. There is conflicting evidence on whether cannabis-impaired driving has increased since legalization. There is suggestive evidence that presentations to emergency departments with psychoses and cannabis use disorders may have increased since legalization.

Conclusions: Legalization of cannabis in Canada appears to have reduced cannabis arrests and increased access to a variety of more potent cannabis products at lower prices. Since 2019, recent cannabis use in Canada has modestly increased among adults but not among adolescents. There is evidence of increased acute adverse effects of cannabis among adults and children.

Keywords: cannabis economics; cannabis policing; cannabis potency; cannabis use disorders; hyperemesis disorders; psychoses.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have none to declare.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Prevalence of cannabis use in the past 3 months by time, relative to legalization (Q1 2018). Data drawn from the National Cannabis Survey (NCS) and provided by Statistics Canada [16].
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The prevalence of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in blood among injured drivers in British Columbia. PR = prevalence ratios of after versus before legalization from a log‐binomial regression model, adjusting for annual trend, season, sex, age group, health authority, injury severity and time and type of collision. Data drawn from Brubacher et al. [26].
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Comment in

References

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    1. Minister of Justice . An act respecting cannabis and to amend the controlled drugs and substances act, the criminal code and other acts. 2015. Available at: https://www.parl.ca/LegisInfo/en/bill/42-1/C-45 (accessed 26 April 2022).
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