Legalization of cannabis leads to increase in use, decrease in use disorder

The frequency of cannabis use increased signifcicantly, but misuse discreased, in a study of almost 1,500 adults. A prospective cohort study has found that five years after legalization, the frequency of cannabis use increased modestly, while cannabis misuse decreased modestly. Frequent consumers of cannabis before legalization showed the largest decreases in both frequency of use and cannabis misuse after legalization. The study was conducted on community‐dwelling (living independently in a house or apartment, not an institution) adults assessed 11 times from September 2018 to October 2023 in Ontario. The results, according to study authors, suggest that recreational cannabis legalization was associated with modest negative and positive consequences. The study, “Cannabis Use and Misuse Following Recreational Cannabis Legalization,” is published in the April 23 issue of JAMA Network Open , and by André J. McDonald, PhD, MPH and colleagues. For the study, frequency was defined as the mean proportion of days using cannabis, which went up by 1.75% over 5 years. In cased, cannabis use disorder scores decreased significantly over 5 years. Interestingly, the decrease of cannabis use disorder was most pronounced with the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Over that 5‐year period, product preferences shifted away from dried flower, hashish, concentrates, oil, tinctures, and topics to edibles, liquids, and vape pens.