Characterizing changes in youth cannabis use after the pandemic: A longitudinal cohort study

Over the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic youth cannabis use has increased. In the 2020 Canadian Cannabis Survey (CCS), 31% of those aged 16-24 reported increasing their use due to the pandemic while in 2021 this proportion rose to 43% [1,2]. Considering the significant impact that the pandemic has had, youth have been using cannabis to deal with boredom, stress, anxiety, loneliness and depression (1,2,3,4,5). However, it is still not known how youth cannabis use changes over time after the pandemic. This question is important to address given the harm that frequent cannabis use can have on youths' developing brain and mental wellbeing [8]. This study will follow young Ontarian cannabis users ages 16-30 over a year to examine their cannabis use. The objectives are twofold, first to describe how cannabis use has changed, and second to characterize types of changes in relation to youth's experiences and mental health. Youth will be asked questions about their cannabis use, mental health, impact of the pandemic on cannabis use, belief/perceptions about cannabis, influence of cannabis marketing, and health education. The recent reports of greater cannabis use among youth presents a health challenge. This proposed research attempts to address this problem by contributing to Canada's understanding of how and why young people change their cannabis use.