Cannabis consumers have doubled in the last 30 years in this country

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More and more Canadians who smoke or eat cannabis and young people aged 18 to 24 years are the biggest fans.

Christopher Nardi

Wednesday, 21 February, 2018 22:39

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Wednesday, 21 February, 2018 22:39

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OTTAWA | The share of Canadians who have used pot has doubled since 1985. A phenomenon that can be explained by the greater popularity of this drug among older people, believe experts.

In 1985, only 5.6 % of Canadians (the majority of whom were under 25 years of age) admitted to have smoked or eaten cannabis in the previous 12 months.

However, times have changed a lot, reveals a study by Statistics Canada released on Wednesday. In fact, in the space of three decades, this figure jumped to reach 12.3% in 2015, one in eight canadians.

Older

Even more astonishing : during this same period, an increasingly small share of young people aged 18 to 24 years old said they had consumed in the last 12 months, even if they are still the biggest users of the Canadians.

However, the trend is reversed for the older age group which is now composed of people who may have started smoking in the 1980s.

Trivialization

“Generally, there is certainly an increase in the trend of the consumption of people aged 15 years and over […] But the increase is really in the group of 25 years and more, because the trend among younger people is mainly to the downside,” explains Sylvain Tremblay, of the special surveys division at Statistics Canada.

There was also a certain “banalisation” of marijuana, which undoubtedly led to its increased consumption since the 1980s, believes for his part, Émilie Dansereau-Trahan, in charge of the records of a healthy lifestyle, the Association pour la santé publique du Québec (ASPQ).

Medical Pot

The morals have also changed significantly since the legalization of medical pot in 2001, ” she adds.

“When you have regarded cannabis as a medical product in certain situations, the perception of many people towards this drug has changed a lot. There has also been several people who have started to want to automédicamenter consuming “, says the expert.

It is also believed that the number of Canadians who admitted to having smoked in the last 365 days is up, because they were less afraid to admit it in the context of studies of Statistics Canada.

How many Canadians use pot ?*

• 15 to 17 years: 17,5 %

• 18 to 24 years: 28,4 %

• 25 to 44 years: 17.7% of

• 45 to 64 years: 7 %

• 65 years and over: 1,6 %

Percentage of Canadians who have admitted to having consumed in the last 12 months :

• In 1985: 5,6 %

• 2015: 12.3 per cent

*Data as of 2015

Source : Statistics Canada