Canadians believe sugar worse for you than pot

One- in- four Canadians has used marijuana recreationally in the past year and another 19 per cent would use it if it were legal, according to a survey released Monday, just days after the federal government announced legalization rules.

About 15 per cent of respondents to a Dig Insights survey said they have bought marijuana at dispensaries, which operate outside the law and have been targeted in raids across the country. Still, more than half of respondents said they’re not worried about police intervention when they’re buying pot.

Just 18 per cent of respondents said they thought marijuana is “very harmful” — lower than the 19 per cent who said that about alcohol, 25 per cent who felt processed sugar was “very harmful” and 33 per cent who said that about saturated fat.

“What we are seeing is the law to legalize marijuana in Canada couldn’t come soon enough,” said Rory McGee, research director at DIG Insights, Inc. “Perceptions and attitudes about marijuana use have become more relaxed.”

“The fact that Canadians see marijuana use as less harmful than sugar and fat suggests that old stereotypes no longer ring true.”

About six-in-10 Canadians said they support marijuana legalization, according to the survey, which polled 1,108 Canadians between April 3 and April 7.

Ottawa unveiled l ongawaited marijuana legalization legislation last week with t he goal of i mplementing a legal market by July, 2018.

Little is known about the size of the coming recreational marijuana market, with estimates projecting it could be worth anywhere from $ 1 billion to $ 8 billion on an annual basis.

Another survey released on Friday f ound similar levels of support for marijuana legalization — with about 50 per cent of 1,970 respondents to a Campaign Research poll saying they support legal marijuana by next year.

One- fifth of those Canadians said they had used marijuana in the past year.

Under the new legislation, the federal government will be responsible for issuing licences to produce, as it does currently for medical marijuana.

Distribution through retail stores will be left up to the provinces, some of which have expressed interest in selling it through provincially owned liquor stores such as Ontario’s LCBO.

But respondents to the Campaign Research survey seemed to prefer either pharmacies or independent dispensaries selling the drug, rather than purchasing it at liquor stores.

The government has said that if provinces don’t have a distribution system in place by July, 2018, Canadians will be able to purchase directly from l i censed producers through the mail, the way medical marijuana patients currently do.

Even as Canadians’ attitudes toward marijuana are liberalizing, the Liberal government’s stance toward those with past marijuana convictions is not — despite the party’s prior support for amnesty.

Ralph Goodale, the federal public safety minister, said Monday the plan to legalize recreational marijuana does not include a general amnesty for past pot convictions.

The minister told The Canadian Press not to expect a blanket pardon for people with criminal records for possessing small amounts of the drug.

There is already a formal process to have a criminal record set aside, Goodale said.

Those convicted of simple possession of up to 30 grams of marijuana are eligible to apply for a pardon, now known as a record suspension, five years after their sentence is completed.

An internal Public Safety Canada briefing note, released last year under the Access to Information Act, said the issue of record suspensions would be “important to consider during the marijuana legalization discussions.”