School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2023 Nov;84(6):852-862. doi: 10.15288/jsad.22-00427. Epub 2023 Jun 9.
The accessibility of legal cannabis in Canada may influence how consumers source their cannabis. The aims of this study were to examine (a) the distance between respondents' homes and legal retail stores, (b) the cannabis sources used in the past 12 months, and (c) the association between cannabis sources used and distance to legal retail stores.
Data were analyzed from Canadian respondents participating in the International Cannabis Policy Study from 2019 to 2021. Respondents were 15,311 past-12-month cannabis consumers of legal age to purchase cannabis. Weighted logistic regression models examined cannabis sources used and their association with the Euclidean distance to the nearest legal store, province of residence, and year ( = 12,928).
Respondents lived closer to a legal retail store in 2021 (1.5 km) versus 2019 (6.8 km) as the number of retail stores increased. Respondents in 2020 and 2021 had higher odds of obtaining cannabis from legal sources (e.g., legal stores: 47.9% and 60.0% vs. 38.6%, respectively, adjusted odds ratio [AOR] range: 1.41-2.42) and lower odds of obtaining cannabis from illegal sources versus 2019 (e.g., dealers: 22.6% and 19.9% vs. 29.1%, respectively, AOR range: 0.65-0.54). Respondents who lived closest to legal stores had higher odds of sourcing from legal stores and lower odds of sourcing from legal websites or growing their own cannabis.
Legal cannabis stores are increasingly accessible to people living in Canada 3 years after legalization. Household proximity to a legal cannabis store was associated with sourcing cannabis from legal retail stores, but only among those who live very close (<3 km). Findings suggest that proximity to legal cannabis stores may aid uptake of the legal market, yet there may be diminishing returns after a certain point.
加拿大合法大麻的可及性可能会影响消费者获取大麻的方式。本研究旨在考察：（a）受访者住所与合法零售店之间的距离；（b）过去 12 个月中使用的大麻来源；以及（c）使用的大麻来源与合法零售店之间的距离之间的关联。
本研究分析了 2019 年至 2021 年期间参与国际大麻政策研究的加拿大受访者的数据。研究对象为 15311 名过去 12 个月内合法购买大麻的成年大麻消费者。加权逻辑回归模型考察了使用的大麻来源及其与最近合法商店、居住省份和年份（=12928）之间的关联。
随着零售店数量的增加，受访者居住在合法零售店附近的距离更近，2021 年为 1.5 公里，而 2019 年为 6.8 公里。与 2019 年相比，2020 年和 2021 年的受访者从合法来源获得大麻的可能性更高（例如，合法商店：47.9%和 60.0%，分别高于 38.6%，调整后的优势比[OR]范围：1.41-2.42），从非法来源获得大麻的可能性更低（例如，经销商：22.6%和 19.9%，分别低于 29.1%，OR 范围：0.65-0.54）。居住在合法商店附近的受访者从合法商店获得大麻的可能性更高，从合法网站或自己种植大麻获得大麻的可能性更低。
在合法化 3 年后，加拿大越来越多的人可以获得合法的大麻商店。家庭与合法大麻商店的距离与从合法零售商店购买大麻有关，但仅适用于居住在非常近（<3 公里）的人群。研究结果表明，接近合法大麻商店可能有助于进入合法市场，但在达到某个特定点后，收益可能会逐渐减少。
