Retail availability and legal purchases of dried flower in Canada post-legalization

Abstract

Objective: Retail availability of cannabis has the potential to influence demand for both legal and illegal cannabis. The aims of the study were to: 1) estimate the percentage of consumers who report purchasing dried flower legally; and 2) examine the association between purchasing dried flower legally and retail availability, where retail availability was represented as: a) Canadian province; b) 'objective' retail proximity; and c) self-reported retail proximity.

Methods: Data come from Canadian respondents in Wave 2 of the International Cannabis Policy Study (ICPS) conducted one year after non-medical cannabis legalization in September-October 2019. Respondents were 18+ years in Alberta/Quebec and 19+ years elsewhere and had purchased any dried flower in the past year (n = 2506). Respondents were recruited through commercial online panels. Weighted binary logistic regression models examined likelihood of purchasing dried flower legally.

Results: Overall, 47.7 % of past-year dried flower purchasers reported last purchasing dried flower legally, with variation across provinces (range = 40.5 %-81.2 %). Likelihood of purchasing dried flower legally was greater among those who lived closer to a legal retail store based on Euclidean distance (<3 km vs. > 10 km: AOR = 1.56, 95 % CI: 1.20,2.02), and who had shorter self-reported travel time to a retail store (<5 min. vs. > 15 min.: AOR = 2.24, 95 % CI: 1.56,3.21).

Conclusion: One year after legalization, retail availability was associated with last purchasing dried flower legally among past-year dried flower purchasers. To our knowledge, the current study is among the first to examine the legality of purchase source used for dried flower and retail availability of cannabis in Canada post-legalization.

Keywords: Cannabis; Legalization; Marijuana; Proximity; Purchasing; Retail availability.