Legal Retail Cannabis Isn’t Associated With Rise In Emergency Department Visits
Canada was not the first country to adopt a national adult-use cannabis legalization measure. That distinct title goes to Uruguay, which legalized recreational cannabis in 2013, five years before Canada did so. However, Canada was the first G-7 nation to legalize recreational cannabis and remains the largest legal adult-use cannabis commerce experiment on earth.
According to a recent market analysis by Research and Markets, revenue generated by Canada’s legal cannabis cultivators “has ballooned at a CAGR of 43.4% to reach $13.1 billion over the past five years.”
Canadian cannabis companies dominate the legal global cannabis industry, an industry that analysts at The Business Research Company estimate was worth “$21.79 billion in 2023” and “$26.56 billion in 2024” and is projected to grow to an estimated “$58.93 billion by 2028 at a CAGR of 22.0%.”
Researchers at Allied Analytics offer up even rosier estimates and projections, finding that the legal cannabis market “was valued at $25.7 billion in 2021, and is estimated to reach $148.9 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 20.1% from 2022 to 2031.”
A common claim made by cannabis opponents who try to thwart the growth of the emerging legal cannabis industry hinges on ’emergency room visits spiking due to cannabis legalization.’ The results of a recent study conducted in Canada throw cold water on those claims. Below is more information about the study and its findings via a news release from NORML:
Toronto, Ontario: The establishment of licensed cannabis retailers is not associated with any uptick in marijuana-related emergency department (ED) visits, according to longitudinal data published in the International Journal of Drug Policy.
A team of Canadian researchers assessed the impact of cannabis store openings on ED visits in 278 communities in Ontario.
They found “no evidence that the allocation of cannabis retailer licenses led to changes in cannabis-related ED visits.”
Similarly, no changes in ED visits related to either alcohol use or opioids were identified.
“Despite the anticipation that the introduction of licensed cannabis retailers might influence such health outcomes, our findings suggest no significant changes in ED visit rates following the allocation of retail licenses,” the study’s authors concluded. “This research highlights the complex relationship between the availability of cannabis retail options and public health metrics. … Given these findings, policymakers may consider focusing on understanding regional factors (e.g. cannabis pricing and retailer hours of operation) beyond retail density that could influence substance-related health outcomes.”
Other studies have failed to identify any association between dispensary openings and rising local crime rates. Studies have documented a relationship between dispensary openings, rising home values, and reductions in opioid-related mortality.
Full text of the study, “The impact of recreational cannabis retailer allocation on emergency department visits: A. natural experiment utilizing lottery design,” appears in the International Journal of Drug Policy. Additional information is available from the NORML Fact Sheet, ‘Societal Impacts of Cannabis Dispensaries/Retailers.’