St. Catherines, Canada: Alcohol sales decline following the adoption of adult-use marijuana legalization, according to data published in the International Journal of Drug Policy.
A researcher with Brock University in Ontario analyzed alcoholic beverage sales in the province of Nova Scotia during the 17 months immediately prior to and following Canada’s legalization of the adult-use marijuana market.
He determined that alcohol sales declined slightly (2.2 percent) immediately following legalization. Alcohol sales remained below average throughout the study period (1.2 percent below pre-legalization levels).
“Nova Scotia’s alcohol sales declined slightly after cannabis legalization,” the study’s author concluded. “The net decrease in alcohol sales implies … that … after cannabis became legal to use, consumers substituted it for alcohol more often than before.”
The result is consistent with data recently provided by Statistics Canada, finding that alcohol sales experienced a significant decline in 2023/2024 while adult-use cannabis sales increased nearly 12 percent.
Survey data published last year in The Harm Reduction Journal found that 60 percent of cannabis consumers acknowledge using the substance to reduce their alcohol intake.
Full text of the study, “Alcohol sales change in a Canadian province after recreational cannabis legalization,” appears in the International Journal of Drug Policy.