A recent study published in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, based on data from the International Cannabis Policy Study, found that Canadians support regulations that would better protect individuals from the marijuana industry and its products. It also determined that marijuana users, as a subgroup of the national population, were less likely to support these regulations.
The study found that Canadians were more than 3 times as likely to support than oppose a policy to prevent the sale of vaping products above 30% THC (40% vs 12%). Yet marijuana users were nearly split on this policy (29% vs 25%). The remainder were either neutral or answered “don’t know.”
It found that Canadians were three times as likely to say that less advertising should be allowed (24% vs 8%), while marijuana users were more likely to say that more advertising should be allowed than less (12% vs 14%). Canadians were twice as likely as marijuana users to say that less advertising should be allowed (24% vs 12%).
It also found that Canadians were nearly 5 times as likely to say the density of marijuana dispensaries was too high than too low (34% vs 7%). In comparison, marijuana users were nearly twice as likely to say this (25% vs 13%). The study found that 63% of Canadians support the placement of health warnings on products; support dropped to 52% among marijuana users.
The authors, who work at the University of Waterloo in Canada, noted that “level of support was strongly related to frequency of cannabis consumption, with greater opposition to policy restrictions among more frequent consumers.” They concluded: “collectively, the results suggest broad support for regulatory restrictions that are implemented to protect public health.”
