A survey by Health Canada, the government body responsible for regulating the Canadian cannabis market, has shown that the number of people buying cannabis from illegal sources has dropped to just 3%.
The annual Canadian Cannabis Survey aims to give researchers important information about the way Canadians use and think about cannabis.
Findings from the 2024 survey found that 72% of people surveyed bought cannabis from a legal source in the past year, more than double the number who responded the same way in 2017, the year the survey began. The most popular way to purchase legal cannabis was via a physical dispensary, however, a small number of Canadians are still buying their weed from the legacy market. 3% of respondents reported accessing cannabis through illegal sources, down from 16% in 2017.
Respondents were also asked questions about how they used cannabis. This year’s results showed that although there was a reduction in the number of people smoking cannabis it is still the most popular consumption method with 69% of people reporting it as their first choice. 57% of people surveyed said they preferred to eat their cannabis, and 37% said they chose to vaporise it.
Respondents were questioned on the frequency of their cannabis use and the results showed that about 20% of people used it every day, down from 20% since the survey began in 2017.
The rate of teen cannabis use showed a slight reduction, with 43% of 16-19 year olds using cannabis in 2019 compared to 41% in 2024.
The 2024 survey results were based on online responses from approximately 11,666 respondents aged 16 years of age and older, from across all Canadian provinces and territories.
Cannabis was legalised in Canada in 2018, allowing adults to purchase cannabis products from dispensaries or grow up to four plants at home. The insights provided from the results of the 2024 survey show that when cannabis is legalised it can be tightly regulated to reduce public harm, and that allowing legal access can eliminate criminally controlled drug supply markets.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, recently declared that the war on drugs had failed, stating that “criminalisation and prohibition have failed to reduce drug use and failed to deter drug-related crime. These policies are simply not working”.
