Health concerns
More questions than answers with Canada’s cannabis experiment,
I got my card from the Government of Canada through the mail, “Cannabis Act Here’s What You Need to Know.” But, I thought there was something missing. It did not say: On Oct. 17, you will be part of one of the largest experiments ever in the world as Canada becomes the first high-income country to legalize cannabis for recreational use — thank you for taking part.
This is an experiment for three reasons:
First, we really do not know the extent of problems legalization of cannabis will cause.
Second, the Government did not follow scientific advice for some of the known health risks.
Last, we do not know how effective the laws and regulations will be to mitigate any social or health impacts.
I am especially interested in health because we do not know all the possible impacts of legalization.
Your card tells you to “Know the health effects” but you have to visit www.Canada.ca/Cannabis to find out what they are. That is where they warn you to not use cannabis when you are pregnant or breast feeding and where they discuss the impacts on attention, memory and learning.
It is also where they explain that using cannabis before the age of 25 can have lasting effects on your brain and 1 in 6 who start using as a teenager will develop an addiction. But you have to dig deeper to find that cannabis can trigger schizophrenia, depression and anxiety and panic attacks.
You are not warned that you may feel high for only four hours but the impact on your ability to use machinery can last up to 24 hours; meaning you can take cannabis on Sunday night and still be impaired at work on Monday though you do not feel high. And there are other areas of concerns for doctors that are not covered.
One area where this scientific advice may have been beneficial is the age for legal use. Scientists told the government that cannabis affects the growing brain and that people should put off cannabis use until they are in their 20s. The government thought it was impractical to have a later legal age of use and so made the age 18/19.
The possible problems that may cause are highlighted by a recent study of 3,800 adolescents by the University of Montreal. In their study, 75 per cent of youth aged 13 years and up had used alcohol but only 28 per cent had ever used cannabis. If legalization makes cannabis a right of passage, like alcohol, I would expect the percentage of young people who use it to rise.
Which brings me to the last experimental area: how effective we will be at mitigating harm? I could not find evidence that legalizing cannabis for 18/19year olds but then telling them they should not use it until they are older actually works.
Similarly, the government says it wants to regulate the cannabis industry to decrease the harm to the public, but I have not seen scientific evidence that legalization improves public health.
Last, I haven’t found good evidence that we can identify people who are impaired but not high. Because of this it is unclear how we will regulate workplaces.
The Toronto police have stated that their officers will not be able to use within 28 days of a shift or they will be considered not fit for work. Will we use the same rules for physicians and surgeons, nurses in intensive care, pilots, air traffic control, bus drivers, train drivers and the military?
We have more questions than answers. But that is the nature of an experiment. We could see a more chilled out Canada but could also see an increase in accidents, cannabis addiction and mental illness.
And we could be storing up problems for the future as more young brains are subject to the cognitive impacts of cannabis. But we do not know.
My hope is that we all keep an open mind. There is a lot at stake so we need to be prepared to do the right thing as we get more information — whether it is celebrating success or changing course, changing laws or adding more safeguards.
Welcome to the experiment. Thanks for taking part.
I have not been able to find any scientific evidence that legalization improves public health. It is a theory that we are testing