Michael J. Armstrong is an associate professor of operations research, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada.
Am J Public Health. 2024 Nov;114(S8):S673-S680. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2024.307721. Epub 2024 Oct 3.
To estimate changes in medical cannabis patient activity after Canada's recreational cannabis legalization. I used linear regressions of interrupted times series models to analyze medical cannabis patient registrations per 10 000 residents, purchases per 100 registrations, and packages per purchase in Canada's 10 provinces between April 2017 and December 2022. I tested relationships between the recreational law's passage in June 2018, recreational sales starting in October 2018, and the arrival of edibles and vapes in December 2019. Medical patient registrations initially increased; they slowed after the law passed and started decreasing after edibles became available. Medical purchasing frequencies initially decreased; they decreased further in proportion to recreational sales but stabilized after edibles became available. Medical purchase sizes were initially stable; they began increasing after edibles became available. Canada saw substantial decreases in medical cannabis patient registrations, but the remaining patients stabilized their purchasing frequencies and increased their purchase sizes. Other countries might see significant changes in patient usage of their medical cannabis systems after nationwide recreational cannabis legalization. (. 2024;114(S8):S673-S680. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307721).
评估加拿大休闲大麻合法化后医用大麻患者活动的变化。我使用中断时间序列模型的线性回归分析了 2017 年 4 月至 2022 年 12 月加拿大 10 个省每 10000 名居民的医用大麻患者登记人数、每 100 名登记患者的购买量和每次购买的包装数量。我测试了 2018 年 6 月休闲法律通过、2018 年 10 月开始休闲销售以及 2019 年 12 月可食用和蒸气产品到达之间的关系。医用患者登记人数最初增加；在法律通过后，登记人数增长放缓，在可食用产品上市后开始减少。医用购买频率最初下降；它们与休闲销售的比例进一步下降，但在可食用产品上市后稳定下来。医用购买规模最初保持稳定；在可食用产品上市后开始增加。加拿大医用大麻患者登记人数大幅减少，但剩余患者稳定了购买频率并增加了购买量。其他国家在全国范围内休闲大麻合法化后，可能会看到患者对其医用大麻系统的使用发生重大变化。（2024 年；114（S8）：S673-S680。https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307721）。
