THE RISK OF GETTING HOOKED

Surveys show the vast majority (80 per cent) of Canadians drink and many are drinking more than they should (19 per cent, roughly 5.8 million people, reported booze consumption in 2016 that classified them as heavy drinkers). A lot (40 per cent) of drinking happens between Monday and Friday.

According to Statistics Canada, only 14 per cent of Canadians (roughly 4.2 million people) reported using cannabis in the past three months, with 56 per cent of them daily or weekly users. It’s not clear how many people who aren’t currently using pot will pick up the habit when it becomes legal. Estimates range from about half a million to three million.

“Clearly the expectation is that usage is going to increase,” Michael Devillaer of Mcmaster University said at a recent conference on legalization hosted at McGill University. For one thing, pot retailers will be local, legal and visible. “You won’t have to worry about being in your favourite dispensary when the police come crashing in.”

Researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse in the U.S. reported in 1994 that about 15 per cent of people who have ever tried alcohol eventually fit a diagnosis of dependence, versus nine per cent of pot users. The younger people start using cannabis, and the greater their use, the higher the likelihood of developing a problem.