Canada
Subsections:
Page last updated June 9, 2020 by Doug McVay, Editor/Senior Policy Analyst.
11. Number of Medical Marijuana Users in Canada "Among those who used cannabis, 17.7% (representing about 420,000 Canadians or 1.6% of the Canadian population aged 15 years and older) reported doing so for medical purposes. Prevalence of use for medical purposes was similar between male and female cannabis users (17.3% versus 18.4%, respectively), while more than one in five (21.8%) cannabis users aged 25 years and older reported using it for medical purposes, representing 1.5% of all adults in this age group. The percentage of youth who used cannabis for medical purposes is not reportable. Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Survey (CADUMS) Summary of Results for 2011 (online only), last accessed Dec. 12, 2012. |
12. Prevalence of Alcohol Use in Canada, 2012 "In 2012, 78.4% of Canadians reported drinking alcohol in the past year, a rate similar to that reported in 2011 (78.0%). There was, however, a decrease in past-year alcohol use among youth 15 to 24 years of age compared to CAS in 2004, from 82.9% to 70.0% in 2012. Similar to previous years, in 2012, a higher percentage of males than females reported past-year alcohol use (82.7% versus 74.4%, respectively) while the prevalence of past-year drinking among adults aged 25 years and older (80.0%) was higher than among youth (70.0%). Health Canada, "Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Survey (CADUMS) Summary of Results for 2012" (Ottawa, Ontario: Controlled Substances and Tobacco Directorate, Health Canada, June 2013), pp. 5-6. |
13. Cannabis Arrests in Canada 2012
"Unlike the Criminal Code violations discussed in previous sections, drug-related offences in Canada fall under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. In 2012, police reported more than 109,000 drug-related incidents, representing a rate of 314 incidents per 100,000 population (Table 6). Samuel Perreault, "Police-reported crime statistics in Canada, 2012," Juristat (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Statistics Canada, July 25, 2013), catalogue no. 85-002-X, ISSN 1209-6393, p. 18. |
14. Police Seizures of Cannabis in Canada 2009 "In 2009, Canadian law enforcement seized a total of 34,391 kilograms (kg) of marihuana and 1,845,734 marihuana plants. These figures, which have remained relatively unchanged from 2008 and coupled with steady street prices in 2009, indicated an apparently stable marihuana market. As in 2008, the majority of marihuana seized was domestically produced, yet the drug continued to be imported from Jamaica, the United States, the Netherlands, and Thailand." RCMP Criminal Intelligence, "Report on the Illicit Drug Situation in Canada - 2009," Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Ottawa, Ontario: 2010), p. 16. |
15. Sources of Marijuana in Canada "The amount of marihuana produced in Canada exceeded domestic demand. Reportedly, there were OC [Organized Crime] groups producing this drug specifically for export to foreign markets, the largest of which is the United States. According to the U.S. National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), while seizures of Canadian marihuana have declined13 at the Canada-U.S. border, Canada continued to be a source country for high-grade marihuana destined for U.S. illicit drug markets.v The reported decline was believed to be due, in part, to Canadian-based Asian OC groups using their expertise to establish cannabis cultivation sites within the United States, thereby avoiding the cost of transporting drugs across the border and the risk of detection. RCMP Criminal Intelligence, "Report on the Illicit Drug Situation in Canada - 2009," Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Ottawa, Ontario: 2010), p. 17. |
16. Ecstasy Production in Canada, 2009 "In 2009, an abundant supply of Canadian-produced MDMA continued to meet domestic consumption requirements, as well as provide significant quantities for international markets.40 Domestic prices for MDMA remained at the record low levels from 2008, while purity levels of the drug remained high, or even may have increased. The nature or extent of MDMA production in Canada appeared to be unaffected by the significant shortage in the supply of MDP2P, that reportedly impacted European markets. In Europe, the shortage resulted in a decline in Ecstasy seizures and in the number of seizures of laboratories, storage, and dump sites related to large-scale MDMA production. RCMP Criminal Intelligence, "Report on the Illicit Drug Situation in Canada - 2009," Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Ottawa, Ontario: 2010), p. 32. |
17. Prevalence of Injection Drug Use in Canada Problem Drug Use and Its Correlates "The number of Canadians reporting use of an injectable drug at some point in their life increased from 1.7 million in 1994 (7.4% overall: 10% of males, 4.9% of females) to a little more than 4.1 million in 2004 (16.1% overall: 20.8% males, 11.7% females). Of those who used an injectable drug at least once in their life-time, 7.7% (132,000) reported past-year use by injection in 1994 compared with 6.5% (269,000) in 2004. The numbers of individuals having used drugs by injection in the past year are too small to allow any analysis." "Canadian Addiction Survey: A National Survey of Canadians' Use of Alcohol and Other Drugs: Prevalence of Use and Related Harms," Canadian Executive Council on Addictions, Health Canada, March 2005, p. 91. |
18. Injection Drug Use in Prisons "Infectious disease management can be a challenge in correctional settings due to the high rates of BBIs, and risky behaviours such as injection drug use (IDU), tattooing and piercing among people entering the correctional system (PHAC, 2008b). While jurisdictions prohibit IDU, tattooing and piercing within their facilities some inmates continue to engage in these activities with escalated risk of infection due to the need to share equipment. For example, among Canadian studies, the reported level of IDU ranges from 5% to 28% in federal institutions and 1% to 8% in provincial correctional centres (Alary, Godin & Lambert, 2005; Calzavara & Burchell, 1999; Calzavara et al., 2003; Calzavara, Myers, Millson, Schlossbert, & Burchell, 1997; Dufour et al., 1996; Ford, 1999; Ford et al., 2000; Martin, Gold & Murphy, 2005; PASAN, 2003; Poulin et al., 2007; Price Waterhouse, 1996; Rehman, 2004; Small et al., 2005). These rates are higher when capturing ever injecting in prison (8% to 28%) compared to shorter periods of time such as the past 12 months (1% to 11%)." Thompson, Jennie, Zakaria, Dianne, and Jarvis, Ashley, "Use of bleach and the methadone maintenance treatment program as harm reduction measures in Canadian Penitentiaries 2010," Correctional Service of Canada, Research Report R-210, August 2010. |
19. Sharing of Injection Equipment in Canadian Prisons "Seventeen percent (17%) of inmates reported recently injecting drugs. A substantial proportion of these inmates increased their risk of acquiring a blood-borne infection (BBI) by using someone else’s used injecting equipment (see Table 4 for gender-specific estimates). Of those who recently injected drugs, 37% of inmates reported sharing a needle with a person with a positive or unknown BBI status and 42% reported using someone else’s works after they had used them. Additionally, men were more likely than women to report using someone else’s used needle, 55% vs. 41%, ?2 (1, n=438) = 6.22, p < 0.05 and sharing works with a person with a positive or unknown BBI status, 33% vs. 23%, ?2 (1, n=397) = 4.40, p < 0.05." Thompson, Jennie, Zakaria, Dianne, and Jarvis, Ashley, "Use of bleach and the methadone maintenance treatment program as harm reduction measures in Canadian Penitentiaries 2010," Correctional Service of Canada, Research Report R-210, August 2010. |
20. Injection Drug Use In Prison by Drug Type "Overall, 87% of inmates who recently injected drugs in a penitentiary reported opiates as one of their three most used drugs. Although the number of inmates who reported injecting only non-opiate drugs was small, comparisons between this group and opiate users suggests that injecting opiates may be associated with the use of someone else’s used equipment (see Table 9). Inmates who recently injected opiates were more likely, than those who recently injected non-opiates, to use someone else’s used needle, 81% vs. 48%, ?2 (1, n=251) = 13.92, p < 0.05, and works, 59% vs. 36%, ?2 (1, n=236) = 3.98, p < 0.05." Thompson, Jennie, Zakaria, Dianne, and Jarvis, Ashley, "Use of bleach and the methadone maintenance treatment program as harm reduction measures in Canadian Penitentiaries 2010," Correctional Service of Canada, Research Report R-210, August 2010. |