Waterloo, Canada: Cannabis use among Canadian adolescents has declined significantly in recent years, and fewer teens say that it is easy to obtain, according to data published in the journal Preventive Medicine.
Investigators at the University of Waterloo in Ontario assessed teen marijuana use trends for the years 2004 to 2015. Researchers reported that adolescent use fell nearly 50 percent between the years 2008/2009 and 2014/2015. The percentage of teens who acknowledged that accessing cannabis “would be easy” fell nearly 40 percent between 2006/2007 and 2014/2015.
“Overall, cannabis use among Canadian youth appears to have peaked around 2008/09, with substantial declines over the past decade,” they concluded.
Adolescent marijuana use rates in the United States have followed a similar decline over the better part of the past two decades.
The researchers published separate data in January finding that few Canadians who consume cannabis meet criteria for problematic use.
Earlier this month, Canada legalized the use and sale of cannabis to those age 18 and older.
For more information, contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org. Full text of the study, “Trends in cannabis use over time among Canadian youth: 2004-2014,” appears in Preventive Medicine. NORML’s fact-sheet, “Marijuana regulation and teens use rates,” appears online.