Canadians are not feeling as good about marijuana as they did prior to the recreational drug being legalized last autumn.
Support for recreational marijuana among Canadians has dropped since it was legalized last October amid a hit-and-miss government rollout and a still robust black market. In a survey conducted by Dalhousie University and the University of Guelph, half of Canadians (50%) support the legalization of recreational cannabis, down from about 69% in 2017. Meanwhile, uncertain sentiment surrounding legalization has grown to 20% of the country, up from only 7% two years ago, the survey found.
The survey also found that there’s little or no evidence that legalizing marijuana has put a dent in the black market for the drug. Respondents in Ontario and British Columbia were shown to have stuck with their old illicit suppliers despite marijuana being legalized. The Dalhousie survey found that roughly 60% of marijuana users are still purchasing the drug from a black-market supplier.
The survey also found mixed results with the legalization of cannabis-infused food products that will come to market later this year. Interest in purchasing cannabis edibles, once legalized, also declined this year, with about 36% of people polled saying they plan to buy the product when they become available on the market, down from 46% in 2017.
About 26% of respondents say they would order a dish with cannabis at a restaurant, while 16% would replace an alcoholic drink with a cannabis-infused product, both results down from 39% and 27% in 2017, respectively.
The survey polled 1,051 people over four days in April 2019 and has an estimated margin of error of 3.1%, 19 times out of 20.
