Canada has highest rate of marijuana use, "not a cause for concern" say experts.

CTV.ca | Marijuana use makes case for decriminalization



Canadian Press

TORONTO -- A new study shows Canadians surpass Americans and even the Dutch (looks like legalization didn't cause an overflow of drug users like we're told) when it comes to trying marijuana, but drug policy experts say it's not a cause for concern.

The UN's 2007 World Drug Report found 16.8 per cent of Canadians between the ages of 15 and 64 used pot in 2004 - the highest rate among developed nations. The report studied the prevalence of marijuana use in 2005 or the latest year for which data were available.

By comparison, 12.6 per cent of American respondents said they have tried pot. Britain (8.7), France (8.6), Germany (6.9), and especially Japan (0.1) all reported much lower rates than Canada.

But Benedikt Fischer, a drug policy expert with the University of Victoria, said the UN report is flawed since it didn't examine patterns of use.

"From a public health point of view or consequence point of view, these numbers are fairly meaningless," Fischer said.

"We want to know how many of those people use marijuana in a highly frequent way, how many of them have problems related to marijuana use and, thirdly, what are the social harms?"

Fischer added that the numbers aren't surprising, and haven't changed much from previous studies.

York University law professor Alan Young, who launched a constitutional challenge to Canada's marijuana laws in 1997, said the UN findings could have been distorted by the willingness of Canadians to openly discuss their drug use.

"We have magazines that celebrate cannabis culture in this country, we have conventions and conferences and rallies and concerts," he said.

"It's become a large part of youth culture in Canada, and more importantly, 50 per cent of marijuana smokers are over the age of 30. So it's really gone to all age groups, all class groups. There's no question about it that there is less stigma in Canada."

Young said the report's finding that pot use among Ontario high school students dropped from 30.3 per cent in 2003 to 24.4 per cent in 2005 is simply a "blip" in a larger trend of increasing rates of use.

"The one thing that remains constant is Canadian young people are consuming marijuana at a rate much higher than anywhere else in the western world," he said.

Eugene Oscapella, an Ottawa-based lawyer who specializes in drug policy issues, said the UN report shows that the legal status of marijuana in a given country seems to have little bearing on consumption rates.

The report found that only 6.1 per cent of people in the Netherlands, where marijuana use has effectively been decriminalized, reported trying pot.

This shows decriminalization has no bearing on rates of use, and Canada shouldn't be so afraid to follow the Dutch lead, Oscapella said.

"The criminal law does not prevent people from using marijuana, nor does legalization force people to use it," he said.

Jean Chretien's Liberals first introduced a bill to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana in 2003, but it was never brought to a final vote. Stephen Harper's Conservatives killed the bill when they came to office in January 2006.

Oscapella added that Canada should be focusing its resources on the root causes of drug abuse, rather than persecuting people for possession.

"It is a health and a social issue," he said. "The criminal law is not the appropriate mechanism for dealing with drugs in the vast majority of cases."

The four countries that ranked ahead of Canada for marijuana use were Papua New Guinea (29.5 per cent), Micronesia (29.1), Ghana (21.5) and Zambia (17.7).

Canadians reported relatively low rates of use for harder drugs such as amphetamines and ecstasy.


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God I love this country!:jointsmile:

The most interesting statistic in that report is that in the Netherlands, where it's decriminalized, only 6.1 of the population has even tried it. Most of the little coffee shops that I visited in Amsterdam weren't exactly bustling with business or long lines, either.

We rock in Canada :D

yes, yes we do :D

represent!

It's high-time our prime minister starts representing his people, and smoke a fat one! Then blow it right in the US president's face.:cool:

yeah, but hes too busy kissing ass

Harper: Now i get to be bushes bum buddy now that blair's gone

hahahaha...yea it'd be nice to see some follow through on the decriminalization.:rasta:

To the Dutch, cannabis is no problem at all. They, like America, have a bigger problem with alcohol than cannabis any day! Even Jesse Ventura said on his show "America" that a Dutch cabbie told him that cannabis was no problem at all, but that alcohol causes far more damage, violence, and destruction. The Dutch know that prohibition doesn't work.

Canada is the place where weed is illegal, but it isn't even a priority anymore...depending on the province. I heard they are more strict in rural areas like Manitoba and Alberta because fundamental Christians run the provincial governments. In Vancouver, the cops wont even pay attention to you if you have a joint. lol.

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Originally Posted by reaper666

I don't think that's entirely true, it's tolerated pretty well but I think they still somewhat discourage smoking in public, just like being intoxicated by anything in public.

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Actually I live in B.C., and visit Vancouver often, and I've smoked countless joints in public there as well as my friends, we never make an effort to hide it. I've never gotten in trouble for it, we've even walked by cops and had no reaction. Once my sisters husband was sitting in Stanley park and started smoking a huge doob. By the time a large cloud had accumulated around him he realized a police cruiser was beside him about 40 feet away. The cop just smiled, gave him a little wave, and moved on. They have tonnes of heroin, meth, and crackheads to deal with as is, and know it's not the potheads causing the trouble. I've also seen some interviews with cops, and it's pretty much unanimous that potheads "aren't hurting anyone" and aren't the ones making their lives difficult.

Perhaps this is why I'm sympathetic to mexican immigrants. That urge to head north in search of a better life. I wish you would invade us, it would give GW an honorable way out, surrender to canada.

TOKE ONNNNNNN, CANADA!

I have never been more proud of my country. EVER. This is our greatest accomplishment lol. I love it that I live in the stoner capital of the industrialized world.

I actually do, because B.C. is the biggest stoner province of Canada, and Vancouver is the biggest stoner city in said province, so I'm living in the stoner capital of the world!!

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Originally Posted by Anubis10012007

Canada is the place where weed is illegal, but it isn't even a priority anymore...depending on the province. I heard they are more strict in rural areas like Manitoba and Alberta because fundamental Christians run the provincial governments. In Vancouver, the cops wont even pay attention to you if you have a joint. lol.

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I'm in Manitoba, and you're absolutely correct. You need to be careful when and where you toke thanks to the bloody Conservatives. Meth labs are springing up all over the place (the number has doubled in the past year) and it doesn't seem like anything's happening to those. Hell, an mj dealer friend of mine got raided when right across the hall from his apartment there was a meth lab that wasn't discovered until it started on fire and burned down the building. I'd love to move to BC, not only for the loose laws on marijuana but also for the beautiful natural surroundings, but I hear it's pretty expensive to live there. :(

i have never been to canada, but i have some canadian friends that visit my family down in mexico.....they are awesome, nicest people i ever met.

Here is a Global news story on this subject. This would never be on fox.
YouTube - Canada has gone to pot
I love living in Vancouver.

Time to get rid of Harper!

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Originally Posted by Gandalf_The_Grey

It's high-time our prime minister starts representing his people, and smoke a fat one! Then blow it right in the US president's face.:cool:

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I'd watch...and enjoy every minute of that happening...

-moves to canada-

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Originally Posted by LuckyG

Meth labs are springing up all over the place (the number has doubled in the past year) and it doesn't seem like anything's happening to those. Hell, an mj dealer friend of mine got raided when right across the hall from his apartment there was a meth lab that wasn't discovered until it started on fire and burned down the building. :(

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You can say "Thank you" to Japan, for that one.

The price our children indirectly pay for war.

An organized government creates to destroy, then the pieces get spread around the World, destroying what we create.

Winnipeg, here...so many stoners (and e-heads/candyflippers).

Americans love Canada. The media may promote otherwise, but we love Canada. A peaceful country.

I'd like to see a breakdown of the numbers by province and by state.

Thats awesome. I forever hear about how if marijuana was legal all young people would use it. Always like to see facts that prove these genius' wrong

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Originally Posted by Gandalf_The_Grey

It's high-time our prime minister starts representing his people, and smoke a fat one! Then blow it right in the US president's face.:cool:

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Right on, dude.

Sooo, is it hard to immigrate to Canada (from the US, that is?).

i so totally wish i lived in canada its cold there

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Originally Posted by phydoc

i so totally wish i lived in canada its cold there

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Not.. all the time :wtf:


And w00t for us!

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Originally Posted by Good Green Girl

Sooo, is it hard to immigrate to Canada (from the US, that is?).

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From what I've heard from people I know who have done the same its not that hard at all man. Don't worry aboot it and come on up here eh!

By the way I live in southern Ontario and I'd say its higher than 16.8%, not as high as BC's numbers though.

In Montreal are they as pot-friendly as Vancouver?

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Originally Posted by Gandalf_The_Grey

It's high-time our prime minister starts representing his people, and smoke a fat one! Then blow it right in the US president's face.:cool:

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True dat, i wish he would blow it in bush's face too. Luckily he be gone in a couple of weeks now ;):thumbsup:;):thumbsup:;):thumbsup:

But what do u have to say for ur countries health system tho???? What is the use of a country having free health care, but not having jack shit to offer through thier "free" health care system.......... Yea, thats what i thought..

I'm not talking any shit at all about the greeat north. I love Canada, I used to go thier on a religious basis to driink when i was 19. Im just saying every country, from the richest to the poorest, have thier problems. Thank God, our (the U.S.) biggest problem is out of office shortly.

Thanku very much for the horrible 8yrs. :thumbsup: Start walking and ill see u in hell George W.


Much love to my cannabis loving brothers to the north Ayy :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Canada is cool.
I was at Niagra Falls and in Toronto before...cool city.

I'm studying abroad my junior year in Canada. Not really too abroad cause im only in PA but you would have to be crazy to think the relaxed Marijuana laws had nothing to do with this decision. :stoned:

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Originally Posted by cwesto

But what do u have to say for ur countries health system tho???? What is the use of a country having free health care, but not having jack shit to offer through thier "free" health care system.......... Yea, thats what i thought..

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Good point...:wtf: