ArticleJournal of cannabis research2026
Knowledge about the health effects of cannabis before and after legalization of 'recreational' cannabis in Canada: findings from the International Cannabis Policy Study, 2018-2024.
Article in Journal of cannabis research, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAlthough prior research has examined how cannabis legal status relates to psychosocial predictors of use, less is known about whether recreational legalization influences public knowledge of specific cannabis-related health effects. This study addresses this gap by analyzing trends in knowledge of health effects of cannabis consumption following the legalization of recreational cannabis in Canada.
methodsData were collected from repeated cross-sectional national surveys conducted in the year prior to legalization of 'recreational' cannabis in Canada (2018), and five years post-legalization (2019-2023) among 93,933 respondents aged 16-65. Regression models examined differences pre vs. post-legalization in health knowledge, assessed as agreement with each of 7 health effects from cannabis and a composite Health Knowledge Index, adjusting for cannabis consumption, mental health history, and sociodemographics.
resultsAcross all years, agreement was highest for the risks of impaired driving (79-81%) and lowest for psychosis and schizophrenia risk (34-38%). Health knowledge was highest among non-consumers, those without mental illness history, and youth aged 16-25 (p < .001, all contrasts). No changes were observed in the Health Knowledge Index pre vs post-legalization; however, significant decreases were observed for harms during pregnancy or breastfeeding (p < .001), danger while driving or operating machinery (p = 0.015), risk of psychosis and schizophrenia (p = 0.003), and risk of diabetes (p = 0.001).
conclusionsOverall, only modest differences in knowledge of cannabis health effects were observed in the 5 years following cannabis legalization in Canada; however, persistent gaps in health knowledge remained, particularly among frequent consumers.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.