Impacts of Canada's cannabis legalization on police‐reported crime among youth: early evidence

Abstract

Aims Canada's 2018 Cannabis Act allows youth (age 12-17 years) to possess up to 5 g of dried cannabis (or equivalent) for personal consumption/sharing. This study assessed whether the Cannabis Act was associated with changes in police-reported cannabis offences among youth in Canada. Design Time series model using national daily criminal incident data from January 1, 2015-December 31, 2018 from the Canadian Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR-2). Seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average time series models, stratified by sex, assessed the relations between legalization and youth cannabis-related offences. Setting Canada, 2015-2018. Cases Police-reported cannabis-related offenses among youth age 12-17 years (male, n = 32 178; female, n = 9001). Measurements Outcomes: police-reported cannabis-related crimes, property crimes, and violent crimes. Covariate: calendar-month. Findings For females, legalization was associated with a step-effect decrease of 4.56 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.32, 5.81; P < 0.001) police-reported cannabis-related criminal offences per day, an effect equivalent to a 64.6% (standard error [SE] = 33.5%) reduction. For males, legalization was associated with a drop of 12.73 (95% CI = 8.82, 16.64; P < 0.001) cannabis-related offences per day, equaling a decrease of 57.7% (SE = 22.6%). Results were inconclusive as to whether there were associations between cannabis legalization and patterns of property crimes or violent crimes. Conclusions Implementation of the Cannabis Act in Canada in 2018 appears to have been associated with decreases of 55%-65% in cannabis-related crimes among male and female youth.

Associations Between Canada's Cannabis Legalization and Emergency Department Presentations for Transient Cannabis-Induced Psychosis and Schizophrenia Conditions: Ontario and Alberta, 2015–2019

“…12 Cannabis legalization might support increased patterns of cannabis use in society through a number of potential mechanisms, such as decreased perceived harmfulness, increased cannabis availability, elimination of criminal penalties as a deterrent to using, and changes in social norms making cannabis use more socially acceptable. 13,14 Cannabis legalization may also lead to net societal benefits, such as decreased impacts of a cannabis-related burden on the justice system, 15 reductions in cannabis-related criminalization and stigma, regulated and quality-controlled access to cannabis products, and development of cannabis-related treatment protocols and harm reduction interventions. 16,17 In this context, we tentatively expected that cannabis legalization would increase the number of hazardous cannabis-use episodes leading to the experience of cannabis-related harms in the populations of Ontario and Alberta-a pattern which, in turn, would likely contribute to detectable increases in ED presentations for cannabis-induced psychosis and, perhaps, more persistent psychotic syndromes (i.e., schizophrenia and related conditions).…”

Developments and Changes in Primary Public Health Outcome Indicators Associated with the Legalization of Non-Medical Cannabis Use and Supply in Canada (2018): A Comprehensive Overview

“…There were no significant changes found to be associated with cannabis legalization (2018) on ED visit for traffic injuries (2015–2019) in a time-series analysis of data focusing on all and youth-only drivers in the provinces of Alberta and Ontario. In Alberta, there were 52,752 traffic-injury presentations with an increase of 9.17 visits and 3265 presentations and a decrease of 0.66 visits among youth drivers; correspondingly in Ontario, there were 186,921 presentations/28.9 increase in all drivers and 4565 presentations/increase of 0.09 visits among youth drivers; all non-significant) (Callaghan et al, 2021a , 2021b ).…”

“…A more comprehensive assessment of key outcomes associated with legalization will require consideration of its social impacts. These, for example, include community safety, crime and social cost effects but also the extent to which the elimination of the criminal enforcement and penalties for personal cannabis use and their adverse consequences (e.g., criminal records, educational/employment barriers, social injustice) have impacted on the lives and social welfare of the 5–6 million cannabis users (Callaghan et al, 2021a , 2021b ; Fischer et al, 2020a , 2020b ; Lu et al, 2021 ). Such comprehensive evaluations have yet to be implemented, but may eventually conclude that legalization has been an overall more measured and socially beneficial option for cannabis control in Canada (French et al, 2022 ).…”

The impact of cannabis legalization for recreational purposes on youth: A narrative review of the Canadian experience

“…Using data from the Canadian Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR-2), a recent study found that implementation of the Cannabis Act was associated with a significant decrease in police-reported cannabis-related criminal offences among youth aged 12-17 years, an effect that was significant among both boys and girls. Importantly, no association was observed between the implementation of the Cannabis Act and property crimes or violent crimes among youth, providing preliminary evidence that cannabis legalization was not associated with overall increases in youth crimes (112). Data reported by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics similarly found a decrease of 36% in cannabis possession cases among youth (aged 12-17 years) from 2017 to 2018 (113).…”