New $280,000 study to examine effects of Cannabis on young people
Five years into the legalization of cannabis, the Alberta government wants to know more about its effects on young Albertans.
A study announced Monday will corral the expertise of drug policy and brain development experts to examine the impact of cannabis use on “youth, defined as those 25 and under.”
Researchers from the University of Alberta, University of Calgary, Dalhousie University, Harvard Medical School, and the University of Birmingham are included in the $280,000 one-time grant.
There are numerous studies about the effects of cannabis on the young, but the study will conduct a jurisdictional scan to survey the landscape of cannabis use in Alberta and other regions, said Dr. Sebastian Straube, professor and division director in the division of preventive medicine at the University of Alberta.
Among the provincial distinctions, Alberta is known for having a very high number of retail cannabis stores per population while Quebec is known for restricting higher potency cannabis products.
But there are many things to look at, Straube said.
“There is assuming that something is so and then there is looking at the evidence and doing so in a systematic way, and and seeing what the evidence shows to form the basis for a policy recommendation,” Straube said.
Albertans under 18 cannot legally buy or consume cannabis — the same as Alberta’s minimum age for purchasing and consuming alcohol and tobacco.
The project will be the first in Canada to include a detailed province-wide survey of young adults between 18 and 24 on the topic, said Blair Gibbs, former adviser to the prime minister of the United Kingdom and a policy consultant.
