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Oct 17, 2018 · 2018-10-17. On October 17, 2018, the Cannabis Act came into force, legalizing, strictly regulating and restricting access to cannabis in Canada. The Act implements a new comprehensive public health approach that will be more effective in protecting youth and keeping profits out of the pockets of criminals and organized crime.
- Introduction
- Definitions
- Theme 1: Knowledge, attitudes and behaviours
- Theme 2: Cannabis use and products used
- Theme 3: Driving and cannabis
- Theme 4: Cannabis for medical purposes
The Government has put in place the Cannabis Act, a new strict national framework for controlling the production, distribution, sale and possession of cannabis in Canada. Health Canada has been collecting additional data to better understand how Canadians view and use cannabis. These data will be used to evaluate the impact of the new legislation, which was brought into force on October 17, 2018, and to support development of policy and program initiatives, including public education and awareness activities.
Health Canada estimates the prevalence of cannabis use in the general population through two surveys: the Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CTADS) and the Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CSTADS). These general population surveys answer important questions about cannabis prevalence. For example, CTADS 2017 indicates that 15% of Canadians age 15 and older (or 4.4 million) have used cannabis in the past 12 months (19% among age 15 to 19 years; 33% among age 20 to 24 years; and 13% among age 25 years and older). CSTADS 2016/17 indicates that 17% of students in grades 7 to 12 (approximately 354,000) have used cannabis in the past 12 months. However, these surveys are not designed to collect detailed information on cannabis use in Canada, such as the frequency of use, methods of consumption and the perceptions of cannabis use by both those who use cannabis and those who do not. In order to obtain more information, Health Canada has developed and implemented the Canadian Cannabis Survey (CCS).
The Canadian Cannabis Survey was first conducted in 2017. It examined, in more depth, patterns of use, such as the quantities of cannabis consumed and the use of cannabis for medical purposes; the cannabis market, such as sources of cannabis and pricing; and issues of public safety, such as impaired driving. The 2018 Canadian Cannabis Survey aimed to gather additional data, such as changes to willingness to publicly report cannabis use if legal; perceived risk of using cannabis in various ways; expected source of cannabis once it is legal; absenteeism from school and work as a result of cannabis use; and receiving treatment or counseling for cannabis use. The 2018 Canadian Cannabis Survey also asked about maternal use during pregnancy and while breastfeeding; however, the sample was too small to report on. In addition, the 2018 data will allow for comparisons to data collected in 2017 and comparisons to data that will be collected after the implementation of the new Cannabis Act in October 2018.
The CCS was designed using a two-step recruitment process where respondents were first recruited by phone (land line or mobile) from lists of random telephone numbers. Respondents who passed a set of screening questions were then deemed eligible and were sent a link to an online survey, either by email or short message service (SMS) to their mobile phones. The average time to complete the 2018 CCS was 22 minutes for respondents who reported using cannabis within the past 12 months and 10 minutes for respondents who reported that they had not used cannabis.
The following summary presents survey findings from the second data collection cycle, which commenced May 15, 2018 and ended July 9, 2018. Survey findings were weighted by province, age groups, and sex at birth. The results for 2018 are based on online responses from 12,958 respondents aged 16 years and older across all provinces and territories. The CCS was designed to obtain a sufficient number of respondents from key sub-populations, and minimum sample sizes were determined and met in order to ensure statistical relevance of results and representativeness. Of the responses that were received, 3,395 responses were from people who indicated that they had used cannabis in the past 12 months for either non-medical or medical purposes. Sex and age breakdowns included 6,662 females, 6,160 males, 503 respondents aged 16 to 19 years, 879 respondents aged 20 to 24 years, and 11,576 respondents aged 25 years and older. The number of respondents from the provinces and territories consisted of 1,614 respondents from Alberta, 1,631 from British Columbia, 608 from Manitoba, 455 from New Brunswick, 507 from Newfoundland and Labrador, 476 from Nova Scotia, 3,876 from Ontario, 485 from Prince Edward Island, 2,622 from Quebec, 468 from Saskatchewan, and 216 from the three territories combined.
Data were collected on four thematic areas: knowledge, attitudes and behaviours; cannabis use and products used; driving and cannabis, and cannabis for medical purposes. A summary of the key results is provided below and the detailed results tables have been published on the Library and Archives website.
•Cannabis use includes using cannabis in its dry form or when mixed or processed into another product, such as an edible, a concentrate, including hashish, a liquid, or other product.
•Cannabis use for non-medical purposes is defined as use for a range of non-medical reasons (e.g., socially for enjoyment, pleasure, amusement or for spiritual, lifestyle and other non-medical reasons).
Social acceptability
Respondents were asked about the social acceptability of using various products occasionally (2017 and 2018) and regularly (2018 only). Of the proposed substances (alcohol, tobacco and cannabis), the most socially acceptable product to use, whether occasionally or regularly, was alcohol, followed by cannabis and tobacco. For example, the regular use of alcohol was considered completely or somewhat socially acceptable by 60% of respondents, compared to 46% for the use of e-cigarettes containing nicotine, 45% for smoking cannabis for non-medical purposes, followed by 44% for vaping or eating cannabis for non-medical purposes, and 38% for tobacco (including cigarettes, cigars or smokeless tobacco). The social acceptability of the occasional use of smoking, eating or vaping cannabis increased slightly compared to 2017. A greater proportion of people who indicated using cannabis in the past 12 months reported that the occasional or regular use of alcohol, tobacco and cannabis were socially acceptable than those who did not report cannabis use. This trend was also seen in 2017.
Willingness to disclose cannabis use
Thirty one percent (31%) reported they would be more willing to publicly disclose whether they use cannabis if it is legal. Twenty four percent (24%) said they are already willing to disclose whether they use cannabis and 25% said they would not be more willing to say if they use cannabis.
Perceived risks of using various substances
Respondents were asked for the first time, how much they thought a person risked harming themselves by using various products once in a while and on a regular basis. Perceived risk was determined using a 4-point Likert scale, which had the following categories: no risk, slight risk, moderate risk, great risk and “don’t know”. In general, the majority of people felt that occasional use of alcohol or cannabis had no risk or slight risk, whereas smoking tobacco and using an e-cigarette with nicotine once in a while, was seen as having moderate or great risk. When asked about the use of these substances on a regular basis, the majority of people overall perceived either moderate or great risk for smoking tobacco (95%), followed by drinking alcohol (78%), smoking cannabis (72%), vaping cannabis (70%), and eating cannabis (66%). The perceived risk from regular use of alcohol or tobacco was independent of whether a person had consumed cannabis in the past year or not, whereas the perceived risks of consuming cannabis through smoking, vaping or eating were less for those reporting past year cannabis use than those who had not used cannabis. For example, less than half (40%) of those who had used cannabis in the past 12 months perceived moderate or great risk with smoking cannabis compared to 81% of people who had not used cannabis in the past 12 months.
The results presented under Theme 2 refer specifically to people who reported using cannabis for non-medical purposes in their lifetime (n=7,743), in the 12 months prior to completing the survey (n=2,900), and the past 30 days prior to completing the survey (n=1,990).
Respondents who reported using cannabis for non-medical purposes were asked detailed questions about their use of cannabis for non-medical purposes. Topics included frequency of cannabis use, age of initiation of use, number of hours spent "stoned" or "high" in a typical use day, methods of consumption, types of cannabis products used, average amount spent on these products, and where people store cannabis inside the home.
People who had used cannabis in the past 12 months were asked about their driving habits relative to cannabis use and to cannabis use in combination with alcohol/other drugs. All respondents were asked if they had ever been a passenger in a vehicle driven by someone within two hours of using cannabis, and all respondents were also asked for their o...
Respondents were asked about their use of cannabis for medical purposes and those who indicated they had used cannabis in the past 12 months were asked if they would complete an additional section related to this use. Of the 1,706 respondents that indicated they had used cannabis for medical purposes in the past 12 months, 1,126 agreed to complete ...
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