TL;DR: As cannabis becomes a regulated global commodity—spanning pharma, exports and healthcare—the U.S. risks falling behind. While other regions advance structured markets, federal inaction and investor hesitation threaten America’s role in the industry it once led.
Read more in Forbes
Highlights
•Those not using cannabis pre-legalization showed steeper increases in acceptability.
•Social acceptability of recreational cannabis use has increased since legalization.
•Social acceptability of medical cannabis use declined.
•Regular cannabis use perceived as riskier and more addictive.
•Declines in perceived health-related benefits; increases in health-related risks.
Read more in the International Journal of Drug Policy
Key Points
Question Did cannabis use or misuse change among adults in the 5 years following recreational cannabis legalization in Canada (overall and by prelegalization cannabis use frequency)?
Findings In this cohort study including 1428 adults, cannabis use frequency increased significantly overall while misuse decreased, with small effect sizes for both. Prelegalization cannabis use significantly moderated these changes.
Meaning From a public health standpoint, this cohort study found modest changes (both negative and positive) in cannabis use behaviors in the 5 years following legalization in Canada.
Read more: JAMA Network Open
Overall, the available evidence suggests that drug-related law enforcement activities are of limited effectiveness in reducing violence. More studies demonstrated an association between drug-related law enforcement activities and increased violence than decreased violence. Selective enforcement tactics appeared the most promising in their capacity to reduce violence, although the evidence base covered in this review is limited.
Passive drug-related law enforcement activities, such as increasing police presence in known drug-market areas, appear promising in reducing violence. However, less evidence is available on the effectiveness of these interventions than on active law enforcement activities.
Read more at RAND
Even as the Conservative Party of Canada falls further behind in public opinion polls, its leader is intent on using Trump-like tactics of misinformation and fearmongering to disparage Canada’s illicit drug policies.
That is neither a winning campaign strategy, nor a healthy and productive message to send to Canadians.
Read more at the Winnipeg Free Press
Read more in the International Journal of Drug Policy
Did Canadians consume cannabis more widely, more frequently and at younger ages as it became more accessible and affordable? The answer was mostly no.
Read more at The Conversion
A new report says young people in BC who have tried cannabis were at the lowest rate in 25 years in 2023, with youth less likely to consume cannabis five years into cannabis legalization. However, those who do report using cannabis appear to be using it more often.
The Blunt Talk report is the third of its kind to look at cannabis use among youth in British Columbia, drawing upon data from the BC Adolescent Health Survey. That survey is conducted every five years, with the most recent previous data coming from 2018.
Read more at Stratcann
Join the Brookings Institution’s Foreign Policy program for an event to launch the results of a year-long project on synthetic opioids in the United States and abroad. Highlighting the project’s findings and featuring top experts, the event will open with a fireside chat between former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Senior Fellow Vanda Felbab-Brown. Subsequent panels will explore U.S. drugs markets, domestic law enforcement, treatment, harm reduction, and decriminalization policies as well as the international dimensions of synthetic opioids and their spread beyond North America.
