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Cannabis, commonly known as weed or pot, is a drug that comes from a category of plants that are known for their relaxing and calming effects. In 2018, the government of Canada legalized cannabis to improve the safety and public health of Canadians while minimizing youth access to cannabis and reducing crimes and illegal markets. 

The policy made it legal for adults in all provinces to use cannabis and placed restrictions on the number of cannabis plants people can grow for personal use and on advertisement and packaging of cannabis. 

The issue is that since the legalization of cannabis, the results have been a mixed bag of increased health issues. Examples range from increased usage of cannabis and cannabis poisoning to positive social benefits, such as reducing cannabis charges and jail time and new job creation. Despite the mixed results of this policy, cannabis legalization must be adjusted, and if not, it must end as its negative outcomes outweigh its positive outcomes in society.

How Cannabis Legalization Boosted Progress

Legalizing cannabis in Canada has provided many advantages to Canada’s society and economy. The first advantage that cannabis legalization provided was that it increased the number of legal cannabis markets available, encouraging adults to purchase cannabis from legal markets instead of illegal ones. Today, two-thirds of active cannabis users get their cannabis from legal sources, which promotes safety as in legal markets, cannabis products are inspected for their qualities and their chemicals to ensure they are safe to consume. 

The second advantage the cannabis legalization provided was reducing the number of arrests and criminal charges regarding cannabis usage and ownership by 95%, especially for youths, as it prohibited youths from accessing cannabis. This has also reduced the stereotype around consuming cannabis. The third advantage of cannabis legalization was the growing tax revenues for the government, contributing 15.1 billion to government revenues. 

Lastly, cannabis legalization also created new jobs across Canada. For example, in Ontario alone, 48,000 new jobs were created. These new jobs varied from producing to selling, which made Ontario Canada’s largest regulated cannabis market in Canada. All of these factors suggest that the legalization of cannabis succeeded in accomplishing its purpose while having the potential to grow more in the future.

Health and Safety Concerns Post-Legalization

Many believe that despite the benefits that legalization of cannabis provides, there are many flaws within this policy. They also believe that the outcome of the legalization of cannabis has not been getting the results Canadians were hoping for.

First, health experts say that the legalization of cannabis has not led to any health benefits for the public so far. Instead, it has brought serious concerns among health experts about the increased rate of cannabis usage.

According to a government survey, 27 percent of the participants had used cannabis in 2021. The value was five percent more than what the same survey showed in 2017. Additionally, studies show that overconsumption of cannabis is the leading cause of hospitalizations among Canadian youth as it creates negative health effects such as increasing depression, anxiety, and brain damage.

After cannabis legalization, there was also an increased rate of youths experiencing cannabis poisoning in provinces where edibles, which are a type of cannabis that can be swallowed, were legal. Therefore, many health experts believe that safe cannabis and its legalization alone cannot prevent medical issues arising from cannabis usage.

Social Concerns Post-Legalization

Second, although there has been a major decrease in criminal arrests and charges as a result of the legalization of cannabis, this policy change did not consider the people who are currently in jail due to ownership or usage of cannabis. 

Instead of adding a section regarding this in the Act, the government created programs that offer pardons (forgiveness) and help people who have convictions related to the usage of cannabis to get out of jail. However, this involves a long process, and the program has given only a few pardons to this date. Therefore, many believe that cannabis legalization is not beneficial for marginalized and rationalized communities that cannabis criminalization impacts most compared to others. 

Economic and Business Concerns Post-Legalization

Third, although cannabis legalization created new sources for making more tax revenue, the illegal market is still operating. It makes billions of dollars from cannabis sales, which creates a lot of tax revenue that the government is not going to get. 

Fourth, even though cannabis legalization has led to the creation of many jobs, many small to medium-scale cannabis productions and businesses are struggling to survive. Overproduction of cannabis by large companies is one of the main factors making it difficult for small or medium-scale companies to find investors to invest in their businesses.

The situation is also difficult for all successful cannabis businesses and productions to earn or continue to earn profits due to high taxation, high regulatory fees, and low product prices. This suggests that this policy’s economic point of view must be reconsidered and adjusted.  

Was Cannabis Legalization “Successful?”

Overall, the legalization of cannabis in Canada has resulted in both advantageous and disadvantageous outcomes in society. Different reviews of Canada’s legalization of cannabis suggest that a more measured and monitored approach is required, as success cannot be achieved overnight.

For example, Uruguay was the first country that legalized non-medical cannabis. However, reports indicate that, unlike Canada, the use of cannabis among youth has not increased in Uruguay. The Uruguayan cannabis regulation model balances prohibition and commercialization but has stricter prohibition policies compared to Canada. In this model, cannabis advertisement, selling cannabis to tourists, and cannabis edible products are not allowed at all.

Yet it is important to note that in certain areas, Uruguay’s cannabis regulation has yielded less favorable results compared to Canada’s approach to legalization. Uruguayan cannabis regulation did not create jobs but actually increased the unemployment rate, especially for men. This comparison shows that there is no perfect cannabis policy or regulation. 

What Can Be Done?

To improve its cannabis regulation, the government of Canada can place heavier restrictions on cannabis advertisements and prohibit the use of edible cannabis to reduce youth hospitalization due to cannabis consumption. They can also add a section in the policy about giving pardons (forgiveness) to people who are in jail only for the ownership and usage of non-medical cannabis to reduce criminal charges regarding cannabis usage. 

Lastly, the government can narrow down the type of businesses that can produce and sell cannabis to prevent the overproduction of cannabis. This would result in lower product prices and can also lead to lower taxation and regulation fees. All of these suggestions have disadvantages, but it would be good for the government to try these methods, examine what works and what does not, and make the Cannabis legalization policy somewhat fairer.

Edited by Light Naing and Osama Alshantti