Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37525289›Full record

ArticleJournal of cannabis research2023

The COVID-19 pandemic and cannabis use in Canada-a scoping review.

Kelda Newport, Lisa Bishop, Jennifer Donnan, Shefali Pal, Maisam Najafizada

Abstract readScoping Review
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of cannabis research, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Impact of legalization on cannabis exposure calls to the British Columbia Poison Control Centre.Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Kelda NewportSchool of Pharmacy, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's, NL, A1B 3V6, Canada.
Lisa BishopSchool of Pharmacy, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's, NL, A1B 3V6, Canada.
Jennifer DonnanSchool of Pharmacy, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's, NL, A1B 3V6, Canada.
Shefali PalFaculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, 300 Prince Phillip Drive, NL, A1B 3V6, St. John's, Canada.
Maisam NajafizadaFaculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, 300 Prince Phillip Drive, NL, A1B 3V6, St. John's, Canada. maisam.najafizada@med.mun.ca.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9195-5379

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSince the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, the cannabis industry has adapted to public health emergency orders which had direct and indirect consequences on cannabis consumption. The objective of this scoping review was to describe the patterns of consumption and cannabis-related health and safety considerations during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.

methodsFor this scoping review, we searched four electronic databases supplemented with grey literature. Peer-reviewed or pre-print studies using any study design and grey literature reporting real-world data were included if published in English between March 2020 and September 2021 and focused on cannabis and COVID-19 in Canada. A content analysis was performed.

resultsTwenty-one studies met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Study designs included cross-sectional surveys (n = 17), ecological study (n = 1), conceptual paper (n = 1), longitudinal study (n = 1), and prospective cohort study (n = 1). Most were conducted solely in Canada (n = 18), and the remaining included global data. Our content analysis suggested that cannabis consumption during the pandemic varied by reasons for use, consumers' age, gender, and method of consumption. Health and safety impacts due to the COVID-19 pandemics included increased mental illness, increased emergency visits, and psychosocial impacts. DISCUSSION: This scoping review suggested that the impact of the pandemic on cannabis consumption in Canada is more complex than simplistic assumptions of an increase or decrease in consumption and continues to be difficult to measure. This study has explored some of those complexities in relation to reasons for use, age, gender, method of consumption, and health impacts. This scoping review is limited by focusing on the breadth compared to depth.

conclusionsLegalizing nonmedical use of cannabis in Canada in 2018 has had its challenges of implementation, one of which has been the changing context of the society. The findings of this study can help inform cannabis policy updates in Canada as the country is reaching its fifth year of legalizing nonmedical use of cannabis.

Indexed as

CanadaCannabisCOVID-19Scoping review

Identifiers

PMID37525289
PMCPMC10388476

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.