The number of Canadians ages 15 or older using marijuana has nearly doubled in 13 years, a Statistics Canada study found.
About three million people in that age group reported that they used cannabis at least once the year before the Canadian Community Health Survey, which was conducted in 2002.
The highest rate of usage was found among teenagers.
However, it's not clear whether there are more people using marijuana than ever before or whether the drug is seen as more widely acceptable, Michael Tjepkema, an analyst with the Health Statistics Division of Statistics Canada, told globeandmail.com.
The young man pictured in this file photo is smoking a joint recreationally. A new Statscan study says the number of Canadians 15 and older using pot has nearly doubled in 13 years. (Kevin Frayer/CP)
"It may reflect changing attitudes about drug use," Mr. Tjepkema said. He noted that a recent study of high school students' drug use found that their risk perceptions about cannabis had weakened since the early 1990s.
He also noted that the ability to obtain cannabis appears to have increased since the early 1990s, according to the same survey of high school students.
Also on Wednesday, Prime Minister Paul Martin said that his government would re-introduce decriminalization legislation when Parliament resumes in October.
"The legislation on marijuana — the decriminalization of minor quantities of marijuana — that legislation will be introduced," Mr. Martin told reporters after the first Liberal cabinet meeting was held.
Mr. Tjepkema said that it was important to note that although 3 million Canadians 15 and up admitted to using marijuana in 2001, nearly half (47 per cent) said they used it less than once a month—so they were fairly infrequent users. About 10 per cent reported that they had used it on a weekly basis, and another 10 per cent reported smoking up daily.
In terms of marijuana, 6.5 per cent of Canadians reported using the drug in 1989 and 7.4 per cent in 1994. By 2002, that proportion had reached 12.2 per cent.
Men were more likely than women to report having used cannabis in the past year: 15.5 per cent of men compared with 9.1 per cent of women. The proportion of men was higher in all age groups except 15 to 17, where there was no difference between the sexes.
Marijuana use was most prevalent among young people, and its use peaked in the late teens.
Cannabis use drops off after age 24, although numbers in the 25-34 and 35-44 age groups were still substantial, the report said.
The StatsCan study also found more people were taking harder drugs, including cocaine, crack, ecstasy, hallucinogens, amphetamines (speed) and heroin.
Overall, 2.4 per cent of Canadians 15 or older reported using at least one of these drugs in the past year, up from 1.6 per cent in 1994. An estimated 321,000 people — 1.3 per cent — had used cocaine or its derivative, crack, making it the most commonly used of these other drugs.
Mr. Tjepkema said that although the survey was anonymous and respondents were assured that their information would be kept confidential, there was a chance that people would be afraid to be completely honest.
"We tried to provide an environment that allowed us to get complete and accurate information. That being said, there still might be some underreporting. There's really no other way to get this information except for a survey," he said.
