By Jennifer Khil,
According to guidelines endorsed by the Canadian government, you should not smoke weed every day.
Federal health minister Jane Philpott is supporting the “Lower-Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines” (LRCUG) published in June in the American Journal of Public Health.
The guidelines were funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health
Research, and outline 10 recommendations for the use of non-medical — or
recreational — marijuana.
The LRCUG’s recommendations
include limiting marijuana intake to once a week, abstaining from use
among special-risk populations, such as pregnant women, and avoiding
driving while under the influence. It also recommends consuming weed
through methods other than smoking, such as through vaporizers or
edibles.
Health Canada is endorsing the LRCUG
as a part of the Liberal’s push to legalize recreational marijuana. By
endorsing usage guidelines ahead of legalization, Phillpott hopes to
counter the potential health risks of increased public access to
cannabis.
“From a scientific perspective,
Health Canada considers the guidelines to be important, evidence-based
information to help cannabis users reduce the health and safety risks
associated with cannabis use,” reads Philpott’s statement. “Our
Government introduced legislation to legalize, strictly regulate and
restrict access to cannabis. We are proposing a public health approach
to minimize the harms associated with cannabis use. The proposed
Cannabis Act focuses on protecting the health of Canadians, particularly
youth.”
Fiona Clement is a researcher at the
University of Calgary’s Institute of Public Health who specializes in
public policy. Clement worked on a series of reports for the Alberta
government on how the province should handle changing marijuana
legislation and said she supports the LRCUG.
“I would put these guidelines in the
same category as public health messaging that has been around for
decades around drinking and the consumption of alcohol,” Clement said.
“I do think it’s very important to have documents like this that balance
the risks with the reality that cannabis use is already quite
widespread — and as we move toward legalization, use will become less
stigmatized and [cannabis] more easily accessible.”
The LRCUG notes that cannabis use is
“common, especially among adolescents and young adults” and that there
are “well-documented risks from cannabis use to both immediate and
long-term health.”
“They benchmark cannabis use at about
11 per cent of the Canadian population, according to a self-reported
survey conducted annually by Statistics Canada,” Clement said. “You
would expect that use is a little under-reported because currently it is
still an illegal substance to use and a bit stigmatized.”
Clement said that since people will use marijuana regardless, usage guidelines are more useful than abstinence-only messaging.
“It’s important to note that one of
the first recommendations is that abstinence is the only way to avoid
all harm exposure — and that’s true of a lot of things, though not
really realistic,” she said.
“So then we say if you’re going to choose
to use and to ingest or smoke cannabis, what are the things you need to
think about to ensure your societal safety and the safety of those
around you, as well as your individual safety?”
The evidence brief on the LRCUG
published by Health Canada includes three “fast facts” about cannabis,
one of which states that “Canada has among the highest cannabis use
rates in the world.”
The recommendations also address issues such as
frequency and intensity of use, choice of cannabis products and age of
initial use.
“As with many substances, the younger
you start, the earlier the risk of individualized damage to yourself,”
Clement said. “Cannabis can have an impact on your brain as well as
things like educational attainment, and the more you use, the higher
your risks of exposure are.”
The federal government is aiming to legalize recreational marijuana use by July 1, 2018.
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