Citation

Fischer B, Lee A, O'Keefe-Markman C, Hall W. EClinicalMedicine 2020; 20: e100294.

Affiliation

National Addiction Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, 16 De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, United Kingdom.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100294

PMID

32259097

PMCID

PMC7097716

Abstract

On 17 October 2018, Canada implemented the legalization of non- medical use and supply of cannabis - a significant policy reform mile- stone internationally. Canada was the first high-income nation to do so with a public health rationale [1]. As studies of cannabis legaliza- tion’s impact in US states and Uruguay have been inconclusive [2,3], it is worth and timely considering the short-term impacts of legalization in Canada.

Traditionally, Canada has had comparatively high rates of population cannabis use, especially among young people. Key indicators of canna- bis-related harm (e.g., hospitalizations) were increasing pre-legalization [4]. Furthermore, there was ready availability of cannabis before legali- zation through illegal and ‘grey’ sources, including diversion from liberal national ‘medical cannabis access’ provisions in place for numerous years.

The main goals of Canadian cannabis legalization include under- mining illegal cannabis markets while restricting cannabis use among young people. The regulatory efforts to achieve these goals however involve heterogeneous policy frameworks. The core legal framework is provided by the (federal) Cannabis Act. However, regulations, for example regarding age and place-of-use restrictions, and retail distri- bution are provincial and vary considerably ...

Language: en