Five years after legalizing non-medical cannabis, Canada is witnessing a rise in its use among young adults, with more than a third reporting consumption in the past 12 months, Statistics Canada said.
StatCan also found that one in seven adults aged 45 and older (15.5 percent) reported using cannabis in the previous year, totalling 2.7 million Canadians.
“Younger Canadians are twice as likely to use cannabis than older Canadians,” the report stated, adding that “frequent cannabis use may be a sign of dependence.”
The StatCan survey revealed that roughly 1.5 million adults aged 18 to 44 reported daily or near-daily cannabis use in the past year, contrasting with 850,000 adults aged 45 and older. Among adults aged 45 years and older, men (6 percent) were more likely to use cannabis daily than women (3.6 percent), while no gender differences were found among adults younger than 45 years.
The Liberal government’s Cannabis Act first allowed legal sales of dried cannabis, fresh cannabis, cannabis oil, cannabis plants, and cannabis seeds in October 2018. A year later, it was expanded to include cannabis extracts and edibles.
