(Ottawa) The increasingly popular use of vape pens and e-cigarettes to consume cannabis is not just an illusion. In its most recent Canadian Cannabis Survey, released Friday, Health Canada confirms that these tools are indeed being used more, which matches the trend seen in many schools.
In its study, Health Canada indicates that the use of a vape pen to consume cannabis increased from 28% to 31% between 2021 and 2022. This mode of consumption remains far behind the simple fact of smoking cannabis (70% ), but still represents the only mode listed by the federal agency that has gained followers over the past year.
Smoking cannabis, ingesting it in food and applying it to the skin have all seen their popularity rates decrease or remain stable compared to 2021. The same is true for products like cannabis oil for oral use. and the vaper.
Vape pens allow, among other things, the consumption of liquid cannabis extract.
Regarding overall consumption, the proportion of respondents smoking cannabis has continued to decline since 2018. Among young people aged 16 to 19, it returned to levels observed before legalization in 2021 and 2022, after increasing between 2018 and 2020 .
In addition, the percentage of people classified as “high risk” of developing problems related to their cannabis use has remained stable since 2018.
As for the provincial distribution, Quebec remains the place in Canada where the fewest respondents indicated having used cannabis, at 18.4%. The Canadian average is 27.2%.
Results from the 2022 Canadian Cannabis Survey are based on online responses from approximately 10,000 respondents aged 16 and older from each province and territory.