Six months after legalization, early data and interviews with store operators suggest a considerable number of Canadians are lighting up for the first time.
Cindi Phelps never imagined herself running a pot shop. She smoked weed as a teenager, but as an adult she says she became “cranky” about cannabis, endlessly lecturing her kids and judging everyone who touched the stuff.
Nearly 14 per cent of cannabis users surveyed by Statistics Canada from mid-November to mid-December had just begun using weed within the previous three months. The period they were asked about includes time before and after legalization, but the percentage of new users jumped noticeably compared with previous quarters, when they ranged from 4.7 to 7.8 per cent.
“Government oversight does bring a whole new cohort to the market,” she said. “They could have tried it on the black market. They just chose not to, because they wanted to know it was a safe product.” Sometimes people still want to stick with CBD, but for those who are willing to try cannabis containing THC, the mind-altering ingredient, staff guide them toward lower-dose products and advise them to start slow and enjoy their experience, he said.
Many first-timers or first-time-in-a-long-timers wind up becoming repeat customers, Babins and other store owners said.Statistics Canada data also indicates former users are considering picking up the habit again. The most recent survey found 19 per cent of Canadians think they will use cannabis in the next three months, compared with the 15 per cent who are current users.
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