A majority of Canadians say the marijuana sector that\u2019s emerged since cannabis was legalized nationwide seven years ago is an \u201cimportant contributor\u201d to the country\u2019s economy, according to a new poll that also shows that rates of cannabis and nicotine use are now virtually the same.<\/p>\n
As Canada grapples with a volatile trade relationships with the U.S., the survey from Abacus Data, which was commissioned by the cannabis company Organigram Global, found that sentiment toward the marijuana economy skews positive.<\/p>\n
Canadians seem to recognize the value of the cannabis industry to the country\u2019s overall financial health, with 59 percent describing the sector as an \u201cimportant contributor\u201d to the economy. That includes 69 percent of recent Liberal voters and 58 percent of recent Conservative voters.<\/p>\n
When the research firm and Organigram last asked Canadians that question in April, 57 percent agreed about the importance of the marijuana market relative to the national economy<\/a>, so this represents a slight increase.<\/p>\n Respondents also voiced\u00a0support for additional reforms to bolster the market such as expanding regulatory input to include both health and agriculture agencies (47 percent), being more proactive to combat illicit sales (43 percent), lowering taxes or offering tax incentives to marijuana businesses to generate jobs (33 percent) and creating the infrastructure to develop new cannabis product types (31 percent).<\/p>\n \u201cCanadians are ready for the legal cannabis sector to become a pillar of our economic growth strategy,\u201d Beena Goldenberg, CEO of Organigram Global, said. \u201cThere\u2019s a clear public mandate for government to modernize how cannabis is treated. Not just as a regulated product, but as a key Canadian industry with room to innovate in areas like beverages, edibles, and wellness.\u201d<\/p>\n The survey also asked respondents to select a preference between two options for the future of marijuana policy: 1) Update the rules to foster the industry\u2019s growth \u201ceven if that means cannabis becomes a larger part of Canada\u2019s economy\u201d or 2) maintain current restrictions on the sector limiting its expansion. Fifty-nine percent of Canadians chose the first option.<\/p>\n Another 58 percent said they\u2019d be excited or feel neutrally about the government taking steps to support the cannabis market by \u201cmaking it easier for the sector to grow and create jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n There were also questions about individual use trends, with the research firm finding that 35 percent of Canadians have used marijuana in the past month, and 32 percent said they consumed cannabis in the past two weeks.<\/p>\n Notably, the survey revealed that past-two week use of marijuana (32 percent) is now approximately the same as past-two week nicotine use (33 percent). That\u2019s consistent with other research that\u2019s signaled more people are opting for cannabis over tobacco<\/a> as the legalization movement evolves.<\/p>\n \u201cCanadians are connecting the dots between economic resilience and smart domestic policy,\u201d David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data, said<\/a>. \u201cAt a time of growing global uncertainty and rising protectionism, Canadians are taking a pragmatic view that growing the legal cannabis sector is one of the ways to strengthen Canada\u2019s economy, create high-value jobs, and build greater industrial independence at home.\u201d<\/p>\n The survey<\/a> involved interviews with 2,000 Canadian adults from June 25-July 3, with a +\/-2.19 percentage point margin of error.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, although the implementation of Canada\u2019s cannabis program didn\u2019t come without its hitches, studies and surveys have indicated that it\u2019s been generally successful, achieving many of the goals advocates argued it would such as\u00a0giving Canadian adults a safer and regulated alternative to the illicit market<\/a>, without driving youth consumption as prohibitionists claimed it would.<\/p>\n According to a government report released late last year, the vast majority of Canadian consumers now say they obtain cannabis legally<\/a>, with only 3 percent of respondents reporting purchasing from illicit sources.<\/p>\n Observers have also been\u00a0watching how broader adult-use legalization impacts medical marijuana in Canada<\/a>, noting, for example, patient enrollment rates declining after legalization was enacted but before retailers opened for business.<\/p>\n A study earlier this year, meanwhile, found\u00a0similar marijuana use rates and support for legalization in both the U.S. and Canada<\/a>\u00a0despite the countries\u2019 different national approaches to regulating the drug.<\/p>\n Another report out of Canada this year found marijuana legalization was\u00a0\u201cassociated with a decline in beer sales,\u201d suggesting a substitution effect<\/a>\u00a0where consumers shift from one product to the other.<\/p>\n The post Majority Of Canadians View Marijuana Industry As \u2018Important\u2019 To Country\u2019s Economy, Poll Finds As Cannabis Use Rates Match Nicotine<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A majority of Canadians say the marijuana sector that\u2019s emerged since cannabis was legalized nationwide seven years ago is an \u201cimportant contributor\u201d to the country\u2019s economy, according to a new poll that also shows that rates of cannabis and nicotine use are now virtually the same. As Canada grapples withContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[99,18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84026"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84026"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84027,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84026\/revisions\/84027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Majority Of Canadians View Marijuana Industry As \u2018Important\u2019 To Country\u2019s Economy, Poll Finds As Cannabis Use Rates Match Nicotine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"