Canada legalised recreational use of cannabis in 2018.[1] The regulation allows a controlled commercial model for cannabis where production is licensed at a federal level (most are for-profit and some are publicly traded) and the provinces are responsible for retail distribution, allowing the state to control products and prices if it wishes. As a result, there is variation across the country as to whether cannabis can be purchased at privately-owned or government-owned physical stores. There is a national online sale system and tobacco and alcohol companies are allowed to own or invest in these companies.

The amount of cannabis that can be purchased in one transaction and the personal public possession limit is 30 grams and home grow limit is four plants per household, with equivalents for different products e.g. 0.25 grams of concentrates. There is no formal limit on market size/production but each province and territory controls this locally. There are strict prohibitions on most advertising, with requirements for plain packaging and mandatory health warnings.

The federal government set the minimum age at 18 years and all jurisdictions except one have set the minimum age to parallel that of alcohol purchase (some are 19). There is variation in the areas where it is legal to use cannabis – some states limit consumption to private property only and some allow in public spaces where tobacco is permitted.

The government regulates the amount and types of cannabis that can be purchased. Initially, only flower products and oils could be sold. Edibles and concentrates were legalised later.[2] Products are taxed as a function of THC levels. The Canadian Ministry of Health (2018) published the list and limits of active ingredients, which can differ depending on whether the product is fresh cannabis and plants, dried cannabis, or cannabis oil. Import and export of cannabis are prohibited. Driving under the influence is a criminal offence. The minimum standard for all jurisdictions is ≥2 nanograms per millilitre of blood, but there are also consequences for those with lower amounts of THC in the blood or with alcohol. The government imposes taxes for cannabis.

Because the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use was so recent, the impacts of regulation on social and health outcomes are not yet clear.[3] Statistics Canada’s Cannabis Stats Hub reports on data collected quarterly – e.g. Q3 2019 showed stability in national rates of use overall (17% people over 15 reporting use in previous three months, higher than the 15% reporting use before legalisation), but some age groups and regions, including seniors and people aged 25-44, had an increase in use.[4] Early studies suggest that the trends of increasing use prior to legalisation are continuing for adults, and trends of declining use are continuing among young people, but whether this is true will not be known for some time. Many people still purchase cannabis from illegal sources due to cost and supply issues, but the number of people reporting purchase for legal sources continues to increase, with latest estimates at over 50% of people obtaining at least some from a legal source. In the year since legalisation, the percentage of Canadians reporting daily or almost daily use remained unchanged at 6%.[5] Increase in prevalence of use overall, the age of people who use cannabis generally, and significant rate increases for select older age groups, but this is all part of a longer‑term trend that started many years before legalisation.[6] Smoking remains the most popular way to consume cannabis.[7]

Within the first year of legalisation, 52% of people who use cannabis reported obtaining at least some from a legal source. Obtaining cannabis from illegal sources dropped from 51.7% to 40.1%.[8] However, legalisation appears to have strengthened rather than weakened the illegal market for cannabis sales, largely because more cannabis is available from legal sources to sell illegally.[9] In the year since legalisation, the likelihood of reporting driving within two hours of using cannabis did not change – remaining at 13.2% of people with a driver’s license who use cannabis.[10]

How does this compare to Aotearoa New Zealand’s proposed law?

Aotearoa New Zealand’s proposed legal cannabis framework aligns closely to that implemented in Canada. The New Zealand law will also be a national law ensuring greater uniformity in cannabis regulation than has been the case in Canada. The proposed regulation for advertising and public health messaging appears to be more comprehensive for Aotearoa New Zealand than Canada as it does not just apply to youth. Unlike the age limit for purchase in Canada, which aligns to the alcohol age limit and is 18 in most provinces, Aotearoa New Zealand’s age limit is higher than the alcohol age limit by two years. Aotearoa New Zealand’s purchase limit and home grow limits are lower than Canada’s. Regulation for product types and where cannabis can be consumed are similar across the two countries. Aotearoa New Zealand will not allow online sales. Unlike Canada, licence holders in Aotearoa New Zealand will not be allowed to produce or sell alcohol or tobacco.This photo shows an open 3.5 gram plastic canister of indica-dominant strain Lola Montes by the Edison Cannabis Co. and a brown paper bag from the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC) cannabis store in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, after a purchase of legal recreational cannabis made on October 18, 2018.

References

[1] Kilmer, “How Will Cannabis Legalization Affect Health, Safety, and Social Equity Outcomes? It Largely Depends on the 14 Ps,” The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse 45, no. 6 (2019)

[2] Kilmer, “How Will Cannabis Legalization Affect Health, Safety, and Social Equity Outcomes? It Largely Depends on the 14 Ps,” The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse 45, no. 6 (2019)

[3] Fischer et al., “Initial Indicators of the Public Health Impacts of Non-Medical Cannabis Legalization in Canada,” EClinicalMedicine 20 (2020)

[4] Statistics Canada, “National Cannabis Survey, Third Quarter 2019”, 2019; Rotermann, “What Has Changed since Cannabis Was Legalized?,” Health Reports 31, no. 2 (2020)

[5] Shi et al., “The Association between Recreational Cannabis Commercialization and Cannabis Exposures Reported to the Us National Poison Data System,” Addiction (2020)

[6] Rotermann, “Analysis of Trends in the Prevalence of Cannabis Use and Related Metrics in Canada,” Health Reports 30, no. 6 (2019)

[7] Statistics Canada, “National Cannabis Survey, Second Quarter 2019”, 2019

[8] Shi et al., “The Association between Recreational Cannabis Commercialization and Cannabis Exposures Reported to the Us National Poison Data System,” Addiction (2020)

[9] Bahji et al., “International Perspectives on the Implications of Cannabis Legalization: A Systematic Review & Thematic Analysis,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16, no. 17 (2019)

[10] Shi et al., “The Association between Recreational Cannabis Commercialization and Cannabis Exposures Reported to the Us National Poison Data System,” Addiction (2020)