Ottawa Public Health says the legal age for marijuana-buying in Canada should be 25, and has recommended the age limit to a federal task force that’s now exploring cannabis legalization.
“The minimum age for purchasing and possessing marijuana should be 25,” stated the OPH in a document outlining its recommendations to the federal task force. “The regulations for purchasing and possessing marijuana must be coupled with rigorous enforcement and penalties for violations in order to be effective.”
The OPH recommendations were submitted to the task force in the summer, and were presented at a meeting of the Ottawa Board of Health on Oct. 17. The presentation was led by Gillian Connelly, OPH’s manager of health promotion and disease prevention, who discussed the health effects of marijuana and the history of cannabis use in Ottawa.
But the minimum-age issue was central to Connelly’s presentation, and she emphasized the negative effects that marijuana can have on young people.
“Cannabis use during adolescence in young adulthood has been linked to negative effects on brain development,” she warned. “This includes cognitive impairment which can affect memory, perception, attention span, and psychomotor performance,” referring to the brain function used to make voluntary movements.
Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury, a member of the Board of Health, said at the meeting that he understood and accepted the facts regarding brain development in youths, but raised concerns about the proposed ban on selling marijuana to those under 25.
He suggested that preventing the youngest adults from buying the drug could drive them to smoke unregulated, potentially dangerous supplies of cannabis.
“The report and the data (indicate) that the majority of high school students aged 16 to 20, we could expand that to colleges, do consume and do touch the substance,” stated Fleury. “So if we recognize that that group is going to try it, attempt it, I would much rather it be in a context of a standardized product.”
He added: “The age of 25, I think, is a misguidance.”
Connelly explained that studies show a link between frequent marijuana use and mental health issues. This is particularly found in people with pre-existing genetic vulnerability to mental illness — especially when, again, a person begins using the drug at a young age.
The board consists of several city councillors, medical professionals and public representatives, including Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney and board chairman, Stittsville-Kanata Coun. Shad Qadri.
The OPH’s submission to the federal task force was drafted following consultation among 28 health units across Ontario, the synthesis of emerging health evidence, and analysis of what it considers best practices in tobacco and alcohol control.
The OPH framed the submission according to five themes that were presented in the federal task force’s discussion paper.
The themes are: minimizing harms of marijuana use; establishing a safe and responsible production system; designing an appropriate distribution system; enforcing public safety and protection; and ensuring access to marijuana for medical purposes.
Fleury said he understood that the protection of youth mental health and brain development is important, but added that he remained unsure about the OPH’s age recommendation.
“It would continue to put our youth more at risk and also our youth more integrated in the criminal gangs and dealers — which is what we’re trying to get away from,” argued Fleury.
Josh Vanderdonk, an employee of Scottie’s Spot, a smoke shop located in Centretown, said he shares Fleury’s view about the proposed age limit being set too high, but has a separate theory why.
“Alcohol is 10 times worse than marijuana, cannabis, whatever you want to call it,” stated Vanderdonk. “I don’t see why they want to make it 25, compared to what alcohol is.”
He said 19 is still too young for a person to be smoking marijuana, suggesting 21 as an appropriate age.
“At 21, you are an adult, you are making your own decisions, and you know what is going to happen from those consequences.”
After the government releases its plan, the public will get an opportunity to respond.
Federal legislation is slated to be unveiled in the spring of 2017.