The legalization of cannabis in Canada just had its third anniversary, which means it’s time for the federal government to review and possibly tweak the policy.
In some areas, the reviews are positive. Legalization has resulted in the emergence of a multibillion-dollar industry, new jobs and tax revenue. There have also been fewer cannabis-related drug convictions among young people.
But despite some positive signs, some health experts are concerned that the rapid growth of the industry combined with a lack of recent data about potential public health impacts means we could be missing some warning signs.
“Legalization is not an on-off switch that occurred,” said Dr. Daniel Myran, a public health doctor in Ottawa. “The retail market has matured over time, but at the same time, a lot of the data that we have about what happens after legalization comes from a very early period.”
Cannabis use is up
On Oct. 17, 2018, cannabis became legal in all provinces and territories for adults 18 and over, making Canada just the second country to legalize recreational use of the drug.
The Cannabis Act, introduced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, had a number of goals. Among them were to keep the drug out of the hands of youth, take profits away from criminals and to protect public health.
Since then, more Canadians seem to be using cannabis.
According to the government’s most recent survey, 27 per cent of participants reported having used marijuana in the past year — an increase from 22 per cent in the first cannabis survey conducted in 2017.
Statistics Canada data suggests retail sales in 2020 were just over $2.6 billion, which represented a 120 per cent increase compared to 2019.
While there are indications marijuana consumption has gone up, criminal convictions for cannabis-related crimes among youth have dropped dramatically.
Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Toronto, says the effects of cannabis legalization in this area are significant.
“From the perspective of a criminologist, legalization has been successful with respect to reducing the criminalization of people for cannabis offences,” said Owusu-Bempah, who is also an adviser to the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and director of research for Cannabis Amnesty.
Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, an assistant sociology professor at the University of Toronto, says he considers marijuana legalization a success in a number of areas. (CBC)
However, there are still areas of concern, he said.
And many of those left with criminal records from offences committed prior to legalization are people of colour, he said, and he wants to see more records cleared.
Public health impact
Russell Callaghan, a professor in the University of Northern British Columbia’s northern medical program, is researching the impacts of legalization on a range of public health indicators. He says research in that area is still in its early stages.
What has stuck out to him so far, however, is that many of the concerns around legalized cannabis — including potential increased cases of cannabis-induced psychosis and schizophrenia, and driving under the influence of drugs — have not materialized.
Some provinces, such as Ontario and Quebec, saw a significant increase in drug-impaired driving charges that year, but the report attributes that mainly to new laws and enforcement powers.
Challenges ahead
Some experts caution it may be too early to call legalized marijuana an all-round success.
“The research is still quite new, so there’s a caveat there,” Callaghan said of his work.
Another goal of the Cannabis Act is to protect public health, and on that measure, rising consumption may bring new challenges.
“When we see increases in rates of use, that starts to raise a bit of a warning sign in terms of public health, because we don’t want to see more people consuming,” said Rebecca Jesseman, the director of policy at the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA), an Ottawa-based non-governmental organization.
Rebecca Jesseman, the director of policy at the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, says it’s too early to assess the impact of legal marijuana in Canada, but an apparent increase in use could be cause for concern. (Paul Palmeter/CBC)
Callaghan says his ongoing research suggests youth visits to emergency departments because of poisoning or overuse of marijuana may be trending upward “significantly.” That mirrors American trends in states that have legalized marijuana, he said.
But what we know may not be as concerning as what we don’t, Jesseman said.
“To be honest, it’s just too soon,” she said of assessing legal marijuana’s effects on public health.
“The retail sales system is still stabilizing and really rapidly expanding, if you look at provinces like Ontario, where we’ve seen over 1,000 new stores in less than a year introduced. So I think that we really need to keep watching for the health and safety impacts and adjusting as we go.”
It’s a concern shared by Myran, who is a fellow in the department of family medicine at the University of Ottawa.
That’s because almost all of the available research on legal marijuana comes from the first six months after legalization, he said. The industry in many provinces and territories looks very different now than it did then — both in terms of the commercial availability of cannabis and the range of cannabis products available.
Data is still limited, and the COVID-19 pandemic has overlapped with much of the time marijuana has been legal.
Myran led a study published in June that found the number of retail cannabis stores in Canada had increased from 158 in November 2018 to 1,792 in April 2021.
“The problem it creates is that we have lots of data about the early phases after legalization, at the exact time that there was essentially no legal market,” he said.
“The concern is that, will we now, as the market matures and you see a large increase in cannabis sales, see related increases in cannabis use and harms?”
The number of marijuana retail locations across Canada has increased more than tenfold since 2018, a recent study suggests. (Hugo Belanger/CBC)
Edibles are not accounted for in much of the available data. That’s notable, Myran says, because edibles present some difficult public health challenges compared to other cannabis products such as flowers and oils.
“One of the chief harms is it’s much easier for people to take too much cannabis,” he said.
Myran adds that some provinces and territories have allowed edible products that closely resemble candy or baked goods when removed from their packaging, which can look appealing to children.
Industry seeks changes
Now that the third anniversary of legalization has come, the statutory review of the Cannabis Act is set to begin.
The Cannabis Council of Canada (C3), which represents more than 700 licensed producers and processors of cannabis in Canada, has some policy changes it wants the government to make.
C3 gives governments a failing grade in four areas — combating the illicit market, taxation policy, consumer education and awareness, and financial viability.
“We can’t get too excited in a circumstance where the illicit market remains with at least 50 per cent of the business,” said George Smitherman, the president and CEO of C3
“If the illicit market is still selling billions of dollars of cannabis, that’s a lot of tax revenue that governments aren’t getting.”
George Smitherman, president and CEO of the Cannabis Council of Canada, says the organization is hoping to work with policy-makers to implement changes to help the industry, including lifting some regulations and lowering the tax burden. (Submitted by George Smitherman)
Despite the many poor grades, Smitherman doesn’t call the overall execution of cannabis legalization a failure.
“I think maybe better put as a failed opportunity,” said the former Ontario health minister.
To that end, C3 is hoping to work with policy-makers on a number of changes to the industry, including reducing regulations and taxes. Smitherman says the excise tax is putting significant financial pressure on producers.
“There are regulations which weigh us down, which some people have characterized as nanny state regulations,” Smitherman said. “Including, just as an example, that you’re limited in the amount of cannabis as an individual that you can have to 30 grams.”
But it’s those types of proposed changes that most concern Myran, the public health doctor.
He predicts the government is going to come under heavy pressure from the industry to roll back public health regulations, including things like child-resistant packaging and restrictions on advertising. Those are public health measures that have proven effective in limiting harms from tobacco and alcohol, he said.
“That’s kind of my big worry, that as we move forward, we will take this lack of evidence on harms in the first three years as evidence that legalization and commercialization do not cause increases in use and harms, roll back some of the policies that are currently in place, and a couple of years from now see large increases in use … and harms and have to deal with them.”
OTTAWA, W.Va. – U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s promise launch a mass deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants has the Canadian government looking at its own border.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Friday the issue is one of two “points of focus” for a recently revived cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations.
Freeland said she has also been speaking to premiers about the issue this week.
“I do want Canadians to know it is one of our two central points of focus. Ministers are working hard on it, and we absolutely believe that it’s an issue that Canadians are concerned about, Canadians are right to be concerned about it,” Freeland said, after the committee met for the first time since Trump left office in 2021.
She did not provide any details of the plan ministers are working on.
Public Safety Minister Dominic Leblanc, whose portfolio includes responsibility for the Canada Border Services Agency, co-chairs the committee. Freeland said that highlights the importance of border security to Canada-U.S. relations.
There was a significant increase in the number of irregular border crossings between 2016 and 2023, which the RCMP attributed in part to the policies of the first Trump administration.
The national police service said it has been working through multiple scenarios in case there is a change in irregular migration after Trump takes office once again, and any response to a “sudden increase in irregular migration” will be co-ordinated with border security and immigration officials.
However, Syed Hussan with the Migrant Rights Network said he does not anticipate a massive influx of people coming into Canada, chalking the current discussion up to anti-migrant panic.
“I’m not saying there won’t be some exceptions, that people will continue to cross. But here’s the thing, if you look at the people crossing currently into the U.S. from the Mexico border, these are mostly people who are recrossing post-deportation. The reason for that is, is that people have families and communities and jobs. So it seems very unlikely that people are going to move here,” he said.
Since the Safe Third Country Agreement was modified last year, far fewer people are making refugee claims in Canada through irregular border crossings.
The agreement between Canada and the U.S. acknowledges that both countries are safe places for refugees, and stipulates that asylum seekers must make a refugee claim in the country where they first arrive.
The number of people claiming asylum in Canada after coming through an irregular border crossing from the U.S. peaked at 14,000 between January and March 2023.
At that time, the rule was changed to only allow for refugee claims at regular ports of entry, with some specific exemptions.
This closed a loophole that had seen tens of thousands of people enter Canada at Roxham Road in Quebec between 2017 and 2023.
In the first six months of 2024, fewer than 700 people made refugee claims at irregular crossings.
There are 34,000 people waiting to have their refugee claims processed in Canada, according to government data.
In the first 10 months of this year, U.S. border officials recorded nearly 200,000 encounters with people making irregular crossings from Canada. Around 27,000 encounters took place at the border during the first 10 months of 2021.
Hussan said the change to the Safe Third Country Agreement made it less likely people will risk potentially dangerous crossings into Canada.
“Trying to make a life in Canada, it’s actually really difficult. It’s more difficult to be an undocumented person in Canada than the U.S. There’s actually more services in the U.S. currently, more access to jobs,” Hussan said.
Toronto-based immigration lawyer Robert Blanshay said he is receiving “tons and tons” of emails from Americans looking at possibly relocating to Canada since Trump won the election early Wednesday.
He estimates that about half are coming from members of the LGBTQ+ community.
“I spoke to a guy yesterday, he and his partner from Kansas City. And he said to me, ‘You know, things weren’t so hunky-dory here in Kansas City being gay to begin with. The entire political climate is just too scary for us,'” Blanshay said.
Blanshay said he advised the man he would likely not be eligible for express entry into Canada because he is at retirement age.
He also said many Americans contacted him to inquire about moving north of the border after Trump’s first electoral victory, but like last time, he does not anticipate many will actually follow through.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024
VANCOUVER – The British Columbia New Democrats have a majority government of 47 seats after a recount in the riding of Surrey-Guildford gave the party’s candidate 22 more votes than the provincial Conservatives.
Confirmation of victory for Premier David Eby’s party comes nearly three weeks after election night when no majority could be declared.
Garry Begg of the NDP had officially gone into the recount yesterday with a 27-vote lead, although British Columbia’s chief electoral officer had said on Tuesday there were 28 unreported votes and these had reduced the margin to 21.
There are ongoing recounts in Kelowna Centre and Prince George-Mackenzie, but these races are led by John Rustad’s B.C. Conservatives and the outcomes will not change the majority status for the New Democrats.
The Election Act says the deadline to appeal results after a judicial recount must be filed with the court within two days after they are declared, but Andrew Watson with Elections BC says that due to Remembrance Day on Monday, that period ends at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Eby has said his new cabinet will be announced on Nov. 18, with the 44 members of the Opposition caucus and two members from the B.C. Greens to be sworn in Nov. 12 and the New Democrat members of the legislature to be sworn in the next day.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
MONTREAL – The employers association at the Port of Montreal has issued the dockworkers’ union a “final, comprehensive offer,” threatening to lock out workers at 9 p.m. Sunday if a deal isn’t reached.
The Maritime Employers Association says its new offer includes a three per cent salary increase per year for four years and a 3.5 per cent increase for the two subsequent years. It says the offer would bring the total average compensation package of a longshore worker at the Port of Montreal to more than $200,000 per year at the end of the contract.
“The MEA agrees to this significant compensation increase in view of the availability required from its employees,” it wrote Thursday evening in a news release.
The association added that it is asking longshore workers to provide at least one hour’s notice when they will be absent from a shift — instead of one minute — to help reduce management issues “which have a major effect on daily operations.”
Syndicat des débardeurs du port de Montréal, which represents nearly 1,200 longshore workers, launched a partial unlimited strike on Oct. 31, which has paralyzed two terminals that represent 40 per cent of the port’s total container handling capacity.
A complete strike on overtime, affecting the whole port, began on Oct. 10.
The union has said it will accept the same increases that were granted to its counterparts in Halifax or Vancouver — 20 per cent over four years. It is also concerned with scheduling and work-life balance. Workers have been without a collective agreement since Dec. 31, 2023.
Only essential services and activities unrelated to longshoring will continue at the port after 9 p.m. Sunday in the event of a lockout, the employer said.
The ongoing dispute has had major impacts at Canada’s second-biggest port, which moves some $400 million in goods every day.
On Thursday, Montreal port authority CEO Julie Gascon reiterated her call for federal intervention to end the dispute, which has left all container handling capacity at international terminals at “a standstill.”
“I believe that the best agreements are negotiated at the table,” she said in a news release. “But let’s face it, there are no negotiations, and the government must act by offering both sides a path to true industrial peace.”
Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon issued a statement Thursday, prior to the lockout notice, in which he criticized the slow pace of talks at the ports in Montreal and British Columbia, where more than 700 unionized port workers have been locked out since Nov. 4.
“Both sets of talks are progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved,” he wrote on the X social media platform.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
