As Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prepares to leave office, Canadians are giving him an exit review—and he’s evidently earned the highest marks for his role in legalizing marijuana nationwide.
The non-profit Angus Reid Institute conducted a survey among Canadian adults and found that the cannabis reform, which was one of the government’s most successful policies, had the highest approval rating, at 52 percent. It was a success for only 24 percent.
Legalization is the only policy item that received majority support.
Trudeau was praised by 47 percent for effectively managing the COVID-19 epidemic, 46 percent for expanding social services, and 45 percent for successfully navigating the Ukraine-Russian war. 39 percent also endorsed his decision to ban assault style firearms.
Via Angus Reid Institute
Marijuana’s legalization was also more popular than Prime Minister Harper’s attempts to achieve gender equality (38%) or to impose federal carbon taxes (19%), complete an oil pipeline (17%), address inflation (14%) and change immigration policies (10%).
This survey included interviews of 1,850 Canadians from March 4 to 6, with an error margin of +/-2 percentage points.
Trudeau campaigned for the issue and in 2018 Canada legalized adult marijuana use at the federal level.
The implementation of Canada’s cannabis program was not without problems, but studies and surveys indicate that the program has been generally successful. It’s achieved many of its goals, such as providing Canadian adults with a safe and regulated option to the illegal market without driving up youth consumption, as the prohibitionists predicted.
A government report published in December found that the majority of Canadians now purchase cannabis from legal sources, and only 3 percent reported purchasing it illegally.
Observers have also been watching how broader adult-use legalization impacts medical marijuana in Canada, noting, for example, patient enrollment rates declining after legalization was enacted but before retailers opened for business.
A study earlier this year, meanwhile, found similar marijuana use rates and support for legalization in both the U.S. and Canada despite the countries’ different national approaches to regulating the drug.
Another report out of Canada this year found marijuana legalization was “associated with a decline in beer sales,” suggesting a substitution effect where consumers shift from one product to the other.
A separate study last year found that the proportion of high-school students who said marijuana was easy to obtain has fallen in recent years.
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