by Sam Rogers
According to a recent census taken by Health Canada, 48% of Canadians under the age of 24 consume cannabis regularly. Among high schoolers it’s just over 40%.
Following the legalization of cannabis in 2018 (Canada being only the second country to enact this, following Uruguay) Health Canada has been taking annual polling of cannabis use factors such as frequency, purchase source, cannabis knowledge, and the types of cannabis products consumed.
The most recent study from 2024 indicates that cannabis usage among young Canadians is on the rise. Compared to 22% in 2018, non-medical cannabis consumption in the past year has risen to 26% among people 16 years and older. Pollsters also determined that cannabis users are broadly aware of the habit’s negative impacts on their mental and physical wellbeing, usage has increase despite this.
But where are Canadian youth buying marijuana? The answer isn’t shocking, they are buying it from the over 3600 cannabis stores in Canada. Nearly 70% of consumers always purchased the plant of choice from legal storefronts.
According to Health Canada, the top reason being the convenience cannabis stores provide consumers; the 2nd and 3rd top reasons being the certainty of safe supply and price.
The methods of consumption have widened vastly in scope as well. While smoking dried flower is still the top method, over half of those polled also consumed edible cannabis regularly.
When speaking of edibles, the images conjured may be of brownies and space cookies prepared in a dorm room with no consideration towards dosage; however, times have changed. The edibles purchased at storefronts in 2025 are sleekly produced and contain precise dosage levels.
Speaking with two Seneca students under the condition of anonymity, the findings of this study were broadly confirmed however, with some qualms towards legal storefronts.
I spoke with Jay (21) and Kay (20), a graphic design student and an interactive media student.
While Kay says she is not a daily user of cannabis, she does appreciate the convenience of being able to purchase the drug easily: “I like to smoke on the weekends sometimes, if I’m not going out […] being able to buy a single pre-roll is so much easier than buying buds and having to figure out a way to smoke it.”
Jay, on the other hand, regularly consumes cannabis and while for the most part he does purchase it legally he also has some gripes: “Sometimes you pay a premium price for weed […] and its been packaged like 9 months before so it obviously dries out.”
Despite any reservations consumers may have about quality control at cannabis stores, the facts are plain to see from Health Canada’s census. Cannabis usage is growing among young Canadians and they are predominantly acquiring the plant from legal storefronts.
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