Canada’s Cannabis Use Continues To Climb

Media Release 23 December 2020
The latest data from Health Canada’s Canadian Cannabis Survey reveals that there has been three years of consecutive increases in use since legalisation, and that almost 1 in 3 Canadian males over 16 consumed cannabis in the past 12 months, and 1 in 4 females.

In 2020, 27% of Canadians reported having used cannabis in the past 12 months, an increase from 25% (2019) and 22% (2018).

This is growing to almost double the rate in New Zealand, with past year use at just 15% compared to Canada’s 27% under legalisation.

Contrary to claims made by the Drug Foundation, use by teenagers is disturbingly high at 44% (up from 36% just two years ago). In fact, 21% of teenage users were using daily or almost daily. People between the ages of 16 to 24 years reported cannabis use in the past year at a percentage that was approximately double that of those 25 years and older.

Prevalence of use by users was also high. 47% of past-year cannabis users used at least weekly, with 25% using daily or almost daily.

21% of teen users and 23% of young adult users were using daily or almost daily.

For self-reported mental health, the percentage reporting past 12-month cannabis use increases as mental health ratings decrease. For physical health, the group with the highest proportion reporting past 12-month cannabis use was those who report only fair physical health (31%). The groups with the lowest proportions reporting cannabis use were those reporting excellent (25%) and very good (26%) physical health.

People who had reported using cannabis in the past 30 days were asked about the number of hours they would spend “stoned” or “high” on a typical use day. 36% reported they would be “stoned” or “high” on a typical use day for three or four hours (an increase from 30% in 2019).

Smoking remains the most common method of consuming cannabis, but it has declined while eating cannabis products (edibles) has increased since 2019.

Although 41% reported they had made a purchase from a legal storefront (significantly higher than in 2019 when it was 24%), they also reported spending approximately $49 in the past 30 days to obtain cannabis from legal sources, and $47 from illegal sources.

“It’s pretty clear from Canada’s ongoing experiment with legalisation that we dodged a health and social harm bullet when kiwi voters rejected legalisation in the recent referendum. New Zealand is too precious to be wasted,” says Bob McCoskrie of Family First.
ENDS