More Canadians overall smoking pot than in 1985, says StatsCan

Cannabis consumption has more than doubled among Canadians15and older over a30-year span, according to a new Statistics Canada report.

But Wednesday's report shows that pot use over the last decade actually has remained stable or decreased among young people.

The national statistics agency has been trying to compile a picture of marijuana use in Canada as the Liberal government moves ahead with plans to legalize the drug later this year.

For the first time, Statistics Canada compared nine national household populationsurveys that touched on cannabis use starting in 1985 to get a sense of long-term trends.

Itfoundcannabis use among Canadians aged15years and older went from 5.6 per cent in 1985 to 12.3 per cent in 2015.

The report also found that trends differ between young men and women.

Between 2004 and 2015,use remained stable among boys 15 to17, but decreased among women in the same age group.

"We do know from otherstudies pertaining to youth thatfactorssuch as fear of the consequences from parents or from the negativeof cannabis itself could have impact on cannabis use for young people," said Michelle Rotermann, senior analyst with Statistics Canada's health division.

Pot use dipped forboth men and women aged 18 to 24during that same 11-year span, but increased among Canadians 25 and older.

"One of the things that's changing is respondents' attitudes toward cannabisuse over time, as well as perhaps their willingnessto declare drug use in a survey," saidRotermann.

The results are based on several national surveys, includingthe:

• Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey.
• Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey.
• 1985Health Promotion Survey.

They allasked about past-year cannabis use and had target populations that included youth and adults in every province.

The agency did note that while the nine surveys usedcan be combined to estimate the evolution of cannabisconsumption, they were designed originallyfor different needs and are not perfectly comparable.