Marijuana in Canada: Legalization Has Increased the Number of Consumers

The number of Canadians who started using marijuana has increased by 4% since the legalization of this drug in Canada last October, revealed an official study.

The National Cannabis Survey, which covers the first quarter and was released late Thursday, revealed that 18% of Canadians over the age of 15 reported using this drug, about 5.3 million people, compared with 14% of the same period last year, according to the Federal Institute of Statistics Canada.

The use of cannabis is legal for recreational purposes, near 646,000 people reported using for the first time, nearly double the numbers collected at the beginning of last year (327,000). Men aged 45 to 64 are the most affected group.

Regardless of the legalization, Marijuana use is even higher among men (22%) than among women (13%). And it is also even more common among young people: near One in three consumers is between 15 and 24 years old.

"Cannabis use every day or almost every day remains unchanged, while increased weekly and occasional consumption", revealed the authors of the study.

One of the objectives of this legislation promoted by the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, had to tackle the illegal market, whose total sales seem to have diminished, according to these first results.

"Fewer consumers reported obtaining cannabis from illegal sources, as a reseller, in the first three months of 2019 (38%) compared with the first quarter of 2018 (51%), "says the study.

Canada became October 17Second country in the world to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes, five years after Uruguay.

With information from AFP and EFE