Legalization’s blind spot: youth exposure to stronger cannabis |
Justin Trudeau’s 2018 embrace of cannabis legalization, in addition to its political upside, was based on three policy premises: reducing crime, increasing tax revenue and protecting young people.
Today, cannabis-related arrests have fallen, the black market has shrunk and governments collect significant tax revenue from a regulated industry — but the idea that teens are better protected is up in smoke.
Eight years after legalization, it may be time for Ottawa to take stock of why the Trudeau government’s signature policy has failed to achieve one of its key targets.
Let’s look at what the data tells us.
In a fully developed policy framework, some of the key metrics of success would be a reduction in the number of teens using cannabis or engaging in frequent and heavy usage, and a reduction in injury or harm related to cannabis. Yet what we see is quite the opposite.
Research done prior to legalization suggested that roughly 25 per cent of older teens used cannabis annually. Today, that figure is closer to 40 per cent.
One of the central arguments for legalization was that regulated retail would reduce access by youth under 19. Dispensaries check proof of age; illicit dealers do not. But that logic was based on an assumption that the illegal market would disappear. In reality, there are still people willing to supply teens with cannabis — now supplemented by a legal industry that is producing ever-stronger products.
Legalization did not just regulate cannabis, it transformed it.
For decades the potency of cannabis has been steadily increasing. Since legalization, and the commercial investment that followed, that trend has only accelerated. Today’s cannabis........