Majority Of Canadians View Marijuana Industry As ‘Important’ To Country’s Economy, Poll Finds As Cannabis Use Rates Match Nicotine

A majority of Canadians say the marijuana sector that’s emerged since cannabis was legalized nationwide seven years ago is an “important contributor” to the country’s economy, according to a new poll that also shows that rates of cannabis and nicotine use are now virtually the same.

As Canada grapples with a volatile trade relationships with the U.S., the survey from Abacus Data, which was commissioned by the cannabis company Organigram Global, found that sentiment toward the marijuana economy skews positive.

Canadians seem to recognize the value of the cannabis industry to the country’s overall financial health, with 59 percent describing the sector as an “important contributor” to the economy. That includes 69 percent of recent Liberal voters and 58 percent of recent Conservative voters.

When the research firm and Organigram last asked Canadians that question in April, 57 percent agreed about the importance of the marijuana market relative to the national economy, so this represents a slight increase.

Respondents also voiced support for additional reforms to bolster the market such as expanding regulatory input to include both health and agriculture agencies (47 percent), being more proactive to combat illicit sales (43 percent), lowering taxes or offering tax incentives to marijuana businesses to generate jobs (33 percent) and creating the infrastructure to develop new cannabis product types (31 percent).

“Canadians are ready for the legal cannabis sector to become a pillar of our economic growth strategy,” Beena Goldenberg, CEO of Organigram Global, said. “There’s a clear public mandate for government to modernize how cannabis is treated. Not just as a regulated product, but as a key Canadian industry with room to innovate in areas like beverages, edibles, and wellness.”

The survey also asked respondents to select a preference between two options for the future of marijuana policy: 1) Update the rules to foster the industry’s growth “even if that means cannabis becomes a larger part of Canada’s economy” or 2) maintain current restrictions on the sector limiting its expansion. Fifty-nine percent of Canadians chose the first option.

Another 58 percent said they’d be excited or feel neutrally about the government taking steps to support the cannabis market by “making it easier for the sector to grow and create jobs.”

There were also questions about individual use trends, with the research firm finding that 35 percent of Canadians have used marijuana in the past month, and 32 percent said they consumed cannabis in the past two weeks.

Notably, the survey revealed that past-two week use of marijuana (32 percent) is now approximately the same as past-two week nicotine use (33 percent). That’s consistent with other research that’s signaled more people are opting for cannabis over tobacco as the legalization movement evolves.

“Canadians are connecting the dots between economic resilience and smart domestic policy,” David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data, said. “At a time of growing global uncertainty and rising protectionism, Canadians are taking a pragmatic view that growing the legal cannabis sector is one of the ways to strengthen Canada’s economy, create high-value jobs, and build greater industrial independence at home.”

The survey involved interviews with 2,000 Canadian adults from June 25-July 3, with a +/-2.19 percentage point margin of error.

Meanwhile, although the implementation of Canada’s cannabis program didn’t come without its hitches, studies and surveys have indicated that it’s been generally successful, achieving many of the goals advocates argued it would such as giving Canadian adults a safer and regulated alternative to the illicit market, without driving youth consumption as prohibitionists claimed it would.

According to a government report released late last year, the vast majority of Canadian consumers now say they obtain cannabis legally, with only 3 percent of respondents reporting purchasing from illicit sources.

Observers have also been watching how broader adult-use legalization impacts medical marijuana in Canada, noting, for example, patient enrollment rates declining after legalization was enacted but before retailers opened for business.

A study earlier this year, meanwhile, found similar marijuana use rates and support for legalization in both the U.S. and Canada despite the countries’ different national approaches to regulating the drug.

Another report out of Canada this year found marijuana legalization was “associated with a decline in beer sales,” suggesting a substitution effect where consumers shift from one product to the other.

Minnesota Awards First Marijuana Event License Allowing On-Site Sales And Use At Festival With Killer Mike, Warren G And Afroman

Minnesota officials have granted the state’s first-ever marijuana event organizer license, allowing adults to buy and consume cannabis products on-site at a festival this weekend. Artists famed for their embrace of cannabis culture—including Killer Mike, Warren G and Afroman—are set to preform at the event.

The state Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) awarded the special license to the Legacy Cup Festival last week, the organizers said in a press release on Thursday. This comes about two years after adult-use legalization was enacted in the state, with the first non-tribal marijuana shops opening for sales to adults 21 and older last week.

Two dispensaries—Legacy Cannabis Duluth and Waabigwan Mashkiki—have been approved to sell their marijuana products at the Legacy Cup event on Saturday.

“The Legacy Cup is committed to organizing a safe event—this festival is 21+, no alcohol, no tobacco. Medics and security will be on site,” it said. “All Lower- Potency Hemp Edible Products and Adult Use Cannabis products sampled or sold at the Legacy Cup are required to be tested by a certified lab and vendors are required to have labs available for the public to see.”

The sixth annual event will also feature professional skateboarders, a car show, “ganja games” and more than 100 vendors.

“Legacy Cup continues to be a groundbreaking festival not only in Minnesota but across the country,” the company added. “The vast majority of states that have legalized recreational cannabis do not allow events to have cannabis sales or consumption.”

In California, on-site sales and consumption at the state’s annual state fair have become regular features of those events. New York in 2021 allowed both on-site cannabis purchases and use, but it’s since remove the option to consume at the event.

For Minnesotans not attending the Legacy Cup festival, adults now have the alternative option of buying for a wide range of dispensaries since the first non-tribal retailers started servicing those 21 and up.

While certain tribal governments across the state have been permitted to sell marijuana on their reservations–and tribes have also agreements with the governor to sell at retail locations outside of their territories–last week marked the first time a non-tribal entity has been able to market marijuana for adults.

Notably, Minnesota sits in a geographically unique position with respect to cannabis, as it’s surrounded by states that maintain prohibition. Many of the newly authorized retailers sit within driving distance of borders with those jurisdictions.

Meanwhile, Minnesota’s House of Representatives recently circulated a poll at this year’s State Fair that asked attendees about the idea of allowing localities to enact bans on marijuana businesses within their borders. Most respondents who have an opinion on the issue agree with the policy, despite it not currently being a part of the state’s cannabis laws.

—Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.

Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.—

Ahead of the enactment of legalization in Minnesota, lawmakers’ separate State Fair polls found majority support for the reform.

The governor has also selected a top cannabis regulator for the state who will oversee the adult-use market rollout. And while there may be some jurisdictions in favor of a local control option for licensees, over a dozen Minnesota cities have signaled interest in government-run cannabis retailers.

In June, OCM issued the state’s first recreational marijuana license for a cultivation microbusiness.

OCM said at the time that it’s taking further steps to build up in the industry and create opportunities to entrepreneurs, including opening a new licensing window for cannabis testing facilities, accepting the first applications for marijuana event licenses and verifying more social equity status requests.

Separately, after Minnesota lawmakers passed a bill to end the criminalization of bong water containing trace amount of drugs, the governor signed the measure into law in May.

The change addresses an existing policy that had allowed law enforcement to treat quantities of bong water greater than four ounces as equivalent to the pure, uncut version of whatever drug the device was used to consume.

In April, meanwhile, state officials moved to delay a separate drug reform—the opening of safe drug consumption sites, meant to allow people to use drugs in a safer, supervised setting.

“More work needs to be done on a state and federal level before these services can be implemented in a way that is safe for participants and Harm Reduction programs,” a representative for the Department of Human Services (DHS) Behavioral Health Administration said at the time.

In March, lawmakers also filed legislation that would create a system to allow legal access to psilocybin for medical purposes. That came just days after the introduction of a separate bill that would legalize personal psilocybin use and possession among adults.

Photo courtesy of Martin Alonso.

Jeff Bridges Was High On Marijuana When Filming Oscar-Nominated Performance As President Of The US, Movie Director Says

In a recent interview, a Hollywood director recalled the time that famed actor Jeff Bridges gave him a scare by getting high on marijuana right before filming a crucial scene as the president of the United States in the 2000 film The Contender—a performance for which Bridges was later nominated for an Academy Award.

Speaking at an event at the Clinton Presidential Center about the American presidency, director Rod Lurie was recounting a story about filming a key speech by the actor, who just years earlier had played the iconic stoner The Dude in the movie The Big Lebowski.

“At the end, Jeff Bridges is going to give a huge speech, right? Big speech, hundreds of people,” Lurie said, explaining that the production company had rented out the Virginia Statehouse for the day as a stand in for the U.S. Capitol and hired a sea of extras to play lawmakers.

The problem: “Jeff is in his trailer, and he won’t come out.”

After sending an intern an another assistant to check on the actor, Lurie said, eventually he knocked on Bridges’s trailer door himself.

“The door opens, and I was blown away by this huge cloud of marijuana,” the director said. “This thing blew me backwards.”

“I said, ‘Jeff, you’ve got a three page speech to give,'” Lurie said. “It’s funny watching him put on his costume. You know how a stoned person puts on clothes. And I’m going, ‘Oh my god, we’re so screwed. We’re dead. That’s my second movie. I’m never going to work again.'”

“Jeff is going, ‘Hey man!'” Lurie continued. “He says, ‘Have you had the cobbler at Emily Shaw’s Inn at Pound Ridge? Man, that food is so good.”

“I go, ‘Jeff, do you know your lines?’ He goes, ‘What lines?'” the director said. “And then we get to the room. He walks in and he sees it all. He goes, ‘Dude, there are a lot of people here.'”

While Lurie’s telling of the story made clear that the director was concerned Bridges’s cannabis use could derail the day of filming, things turned around from the moment he said “action.”

“And then—boom!—he completely changes,” Lurie said of Bridges’s performance. “Becomes super presidential. Gives the speech, nails it in one. Half a year later—’And the nominees are: Jeff Bridges in The Contender.'”

Bridges ultimately didn’t win the 2001 Oscar for best supporting actor, though he went on to win the best actor award for his role in the 2009 film Crazy Heart.

For his role as The Dude in The Big Lebowski, meanwhile, the actor has said in the past that he opted not to use marijuana at all.

“I’ll burn some herb occasionally, but for that film I decided, ‘This is such a wonderful script, and quite detailed,’” he told Yahoo in a 2014 interview. “While it seems very improvisational, it’s all scripted. It was all done exactly [as written]. If you add an extra ‘man’ in a spot, it didn’t quite feel right. So I really wanted to have all my wits about me. I didn’t burn at all during that movie.”

Bridges wasn’t the only actor that Lurie dished on during the Clinton Presidential Center event. He also described the late actor Peter Fonda as “a total hippie.”

“This guy was stoned every single day we shot,” the director said. “I was like, ‘Oh my god, I don’t know what I’m gonna do.'”

Image element courtesy of Gage Skidmore.