Heaviest cannabis users consumed two-thi
Heaviest cannabis users consumed two-thirds of cannabis in Canada: UNBC study
Oct 10, 2019 | 1:43 PM
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PRINCE GEORGE–A UNBC professor has found that the upper ten percent of heaviest-using cannabis individuals are responsible for consuming around two-thirds of all cannabis used in Canada in 2018.
Northern Medical Program Professor Dr. Russ Callaghan and his team looked at data from the 2018 National Cannabis Survey, the survey assessed patterns of cannabis use amongst Canadians at least 15 years old. According to them, males reported consuming more cannabis by volume than females (around 60 percent versus 40 percent,)with young males ages 15-34 being disproportionately represented in the heaviest using subgroups.
“This is the first study to identify this pattern, and it may be important for public-health strategies in designing interventions to reduce cannabis-related harms,” said Dr. Callaghan, the study’s lead author. “The findings are similar to those in the alcohol field, where we have found that a small subgroup of drinkers usually consumes the majority of alcohol in the population.”
Callaghan says that there is evidence that shows that most alcohol-related harms in society are not found amongst the heaviest-drinking individuals, instead, it’s found in those who sit in the low-to-moderate drinking groups. At this time, we don’t know if the same pattern exists in relation to cannabis as it does for alcohol,” he said.
