impact of cannabis on the workplace Archives - YXE Benefits Provides the Chambers Plan Group Benefits in Saskatoon

YXE Benefits offers the simple, stable, smart group benefits choice for Saskatoon businesses; combining accessibility, flexibility and the stability of pooled benefits. Saskatoon companies choose the Chambers group plan because it offers unsurpassed value & outstanding customer service. The Chambers plan group benefits are for Saskatoon Chamber members. In our latest post, we share the information from the recent Stat Can Government 2019 National Cannabis Survey.

2019 National Cannabis Survey

About 5.3 million or 18% of Canadians aged 15 years and older reported using cannabis in the last three months. This was higher than the 14% who reported using just one year earlier, before legalization.

The increase in cannabis use between the first quarters of 2018 and 2019 can be partly explained by greater use among males and people aged 45 to 64. For example, rates of cannabis consumption for males increased from 16% to 22% over this period, while rates rose from 9% to 14% for persons aged 45 to 64.

Levels of consumption remained stable for females, at 13%, and were unchanged for persons in the other age groups (such as young people under 25 and seniors).

At the provincial level, there was minimal change in rates of cannabis consumption between the first quarters of 2018 and 2019, with the exception of Ontario where prevalence increased from 14% to 20%.

The National Cannabis Survey (NCS), which was designed to monitor cannabis consumption and related behaviours before and after legalization, has collected data every three months since February 2018.

National Cannabis Survey 2019’s release features the first Canada-wide results entirely in the post-legalization period, including changes in consumption and sources of cannabis, as well as beliefs about when it is safe to drive after using.

Number of new Canadian cannabis users increasing

National Cannabis Survey 2019 posits more Canadians began to use cannabis in the first quarter of 2019. Some of these new cannabis consumers were first-time users, while others were former cannabis users who tried cannabis again post-legalization.

During the first quarter, 646,000 cannabis users reported trying cannabis for the very first time in the past three months. This number of first-time users was nearly double the corresponding estimate of 327,000 people one year earlier, when non-medical cannabis use was not yet legal.

Results suggest that first-time users in the post-legalization period are older. Half of new users were aged 45 or older, while in the same period in 2018, this age group represented about one-third of new users.

Males and young Canadians remain more likely to consume cannabis

While early indications suggest an increase in cannabis use in the period immediately following legalization, many other aspects of cannabis use appear to be unchanged. For example, cannabis use continued to be higher among males (22%) than females (13%). Use also remained more common among 15- to 24-year-olds (30%) than among people aged 25 and older (16%).

More cannabis users report obtaining cannabis from legal sources; fewer from illegal sources

According to the 2019 National Cannabis Survey, initial data indicate that Canadians are changing the source from which they obtain cannabis. In the first three months of 2019, a greater proportion of users reported obtaining cannabis from legal sources compared with the first quarter of 2018.

An estimated 47% of cannabis users or 2.5 million Canadians obtained cannabis from legal sources in the first three months of 2019, compared with 23% or 954,000 people over the same period in 2018, when non-medical cannabis use was not yet legal. Examples of legal sources of cannabis include authorized retailers and online licensed producers.

Fewer users obtained cannabis from illegal sources

Fewer users reported obtaining cannabis from illegal sources (such as a dealer) in the first three months of 2019 (38%) compared with the first quarter of 2018 (51%). A similar decrease was noted for the proportion of reporting friends or family as a source (47% to 37%).

Some users obtained cannabis from multiple sources, which could have included both legal and illegal sources. During the first quarter of 2019, obtaining cannabis from multiple types of sources was more common among daily or almost daily users (33%) than among those who used occasionally (once or twice) (14%).

Results also indicate that cannabis consumers who began using in the past three months were less likely to obtain cannabis from an illegal source (23%) compared with other users (40%).

Daily or almost daily cannabis use remains unchanged, while weekly and occasional use increases

Current cannabis consumption, regardless of frequency of use, is one of several indicators which can be used to monitor changes in cannabis use behaviours over time.

Higher frequency cannabis use, typically defined as daily or almost daily consumption, is often regarded as a more informative indicator of the impact of legalization, due to its association with the risk of addiction, poor mental health, and lower academic achievement.

After legalization, 6% of Canadians aged 15 and older or nearly 1.8 million people reported using cannabis on a daily or almost daily basis. Another 4% reported using weekly, 2% monthly and 6% just once or twice in the last three months.

Comparisons with the first quarter of 2018 (pre-legalization) suggest daily and monthly use remained stable, whereas weekly use increased (from 2% to 4%), as did occasional use (from 4% to 6%).

Ongoing monitoring will be required to determine whether changes (or alternatively, stability) in user status observed in the period immediately following the implementation of the Cannabis Act are temporary (and related to a desire to try a previously illegal substance) or the beginning of longer-term trends.

National Cannabis Survey 2019 shows patterns of consumption varied by both age and gender

Daily or almost daily cannabis consumption was more common among 15-to-24-year-old Canadians (10%) than among those aged 25 and older (6%). Males were more likely than females to be daily or almost daily users (8% versus 5%). These estimates remained unchanged from the first quarter of 2018 for both gender and age groups.

While many of the harms associated with cannabis pertain to daily or almost daily consumption, less frequent users can still engage in risky behaviour such as consuming cannabis and getting behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.

Almost half of Canadians believe people should wait at least three hours to drive after using cannabis

Safety concerns remain about whether legalization of cannabis will increase incidents of cannabis-impaired driving. The main source of information on drug-impaired driving comes from official police-reported statistics.

While the NCS does not directly measure impaired driving, questions about perceptions and behaviours related to driving after cannabis use have been included in the survey to provide a fuller statistical picture of this phenomenon.

Nearly half (49%) of Canadians think that an individual should wait at least three hours before operating a motor vehicle after using cannabis. A relatively small share of the population (6%) believe that it is safe to do so within three hours. The remainder of Canadians (45%) think that other factors, such as a person’s weight or the method of consumption, determine when it is safe to drive after using.

Beliefs about when it is safe to drive after consuming differed by gender and the person’s cannabis use experience. By a slim margin, males (7%) were more likely than females (5%) to think that it was safe to drive within three hours of consuming cannabis.

In addition, daily and almost daily cannabis consumers were more than twice as likely as other Canadians to believe that it was safe to drive within three hours of consuming. About 18% of daily users reported this belief, while the same was true for 7% of other current users, 5% of former users, and 4% for those who have never consumed cannabis.

Beliefs about when it is safe to drive after consuming cannabis are reflected in behaviour

Overall, 15% of cannabis users with a valid driver’s license reported driving within two hours of consuming cannabis. This is according to combined data from the fourth quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019. This was unchanged from the first half of 2018.

Perceptions of when it is safe to drive were linked to the likelihood of driving within two hours of consuming cannabis. Among cannabis consumers who felt it was safe to drive soon after using, 36% drove within two hours. Driving soon after cannabis consumption was far less common among those who believed driving is only safe after three hours (2%).

Driving within two hours of cannabis use was also less prevalent among those who believed that other factors, such as weight and mode of consumption, should be considered in determining the capacity to drive (19%).

An estimated 4% of (or 1.1 million) Canadians aged 15 years and older reported being a passenger in a vehicle operated by a driver who had consumed cannabis within two hours.

Similar to operating a motor vehicle, getting into a vehicle with a driver who had consumed cannabis was more common among those who felt it was safe to drive within three hours of consuming cannabis (20%), compared with those who felt that at least three hours should pass (2%) or that other factors were relevant (7%).

Risk-taking behaviours are often related. Results show that 57% of people who had driven a vehicle within two hours of using cannabis also reported being passengers in vehicles operated by drivers who had consumed within two hours.

For the first time, it is possible to look at the co-use of alcohol with cannabis. Consuming both substances is considered to be a particularly risky combination while operating a motor vehicle. Close to 20% of those who reported driving after consuming cannabis indicated that they had also consumed alcohol. This represents about 123,000 people or 3% of cannabis users with a valid driver’s license.

More than half a million workers reported using cannabis before heading to work or while on the job

In addition to operating a motor vehicle soon after consuming cannabis, the risk of harms associated with use may be present in the workplace. An estimated 13% (about 514,000) of Canadian workers who are current cannabis users consumed cannabis before or during work. This is based on combined data from the fourth quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019.

While the likelihood of engaging in this potentially dangerous behaviour did not differ by age or gender, it did vary by cannabis use frequency. Over one-quarter (27%) of daily or almost daily consumers reported using before or while at work, compared with 7% of other cannabis consumers.

We encourage you to connect with us on our Saskatoon social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter & Linkedin.

‘Join the Group- It’s Time To Benefit’
www.yxebenefits.ca

YXE Benefits offers the simple, stable, smart choice for Saskatoon businesses; combining accessibility, flexibility and the stability of pooled benefits. Saskatoon companies choose the Chambers group plan because it offers unsurpassed value & outstanding customer service. The Chambers plan group benefits are for Chamber members. In our latest post, we share a Globe & Mail Article that explored the impact of cannabis on the workplace in 2019.

Wondering about the impact of cannabis on the workplace in 2019?

The Conference Board of Canada and The Globe and Mail partnered to explore the relationship between career success and cannabis use. Employers and employees (both recreational and medical cannabis users, as well as non-cannabis users) have been invited to participate in this study. The data from these surveys will be aggregated and used to conduct analysis and create a report that will be presented Oct. 15, 2019 at a conference at The Globe and Mail Centre in Toronto.

What is the impact of cannabis on the workplace?

Canada’s legalization of recreational cannabis has created some unknowns for the country’s workplaces, such as whether more employees are at risk for coming to work impaired or becoming impaired while at work. Employers also don’t yet have enough data to suggest whether recreational cannabis will have any negative or positive impacts on employee health, engagement and productivity.

Assuming there will be no negative impact may be naïve. But assuming there will be a major negative impact – or no potential positive outcomes – would also not be accurate.

The supply of legal recreational cannabis is not keeping up with demand, and with edible cannabis products expected to be made available later this year, recreational cannabis could be in short supply until 2022. It appears Canadians are more interested in cannabis than originally expected.

In anticipation of the Cannabis Act coming into effect, each employer had to decide what they would do to prepare for the new era of legal recreational cannabis and the degree of risk it might create. Preparations included updating substance use and smoke-free policies; training managers on how to detect and deal with substance-induced impairment; and educating employees on what fit-for-duty means – which is ensuring you are never impaired during work hours.

Along with making the use of recreational cannabis legal, the Cannabis Act has drawn more attention, resources and investment to medical cannabis. An employee needs authorization from a medical doctor to be eligible for a workplace medical accommodation or to be covered under a benefits plan. Many employers, who have yet to cover medical cannabis under their benefits plans, are now considering the pros and cons of doing so. If medical cannabis helps more employees deal with a medical condition, reduce pain, come to work feeling better, thrive in their roles, and support their career confidence, more employers may look favourably to adding it to benefits plans.

It’s unclear what, if any, benefit medical cannabis is having on employees and whether it’s positively impacting their workplace experience. Also in question is whether these employees will be able to go to work each day and perform to a standard that meets their own and their employer’s needs.

The next few years will likely see more research and legal rulings that will define how employers and employees think about recreational and medical cannabis. Numerous legal challenges may be launched around when employers can test for cannabis, what employees can do on their time off work with respect to recreational cannabis, and what roles are allowed accommodation for medical cannabis.

Among the unknowns is whether recreational and medical cannabis use will positively or negatively impact work force productivity.

Career confidence and cannabis study

To answer these questions, The Conference Board of Canada and The Globe and Mail are partnering to explore the relationships between career confidence and cannabis use.

Career confidence refers to how employees believe their role is on track to meet their career expectations and goals. Employees’ career confidence is influenced by their own and their employers’ behaviours.

Most employers know that attracting and retaining top talent requires paying attention to employees’ experience with their career satisfaction. For employees to thrive in their roles, employers need to create a safe workplace.

Career success is dependent on employees coming to work healthy, being engaged and productive, and feeling safe.

This study will help us understand what role, if any, cannabis has on supporting or inhibiting career success (for example, an employee coming to work impaired due to cannabis would be a negative; an employee being able to come to work pain free thanks to cannabis would be a positive).

As part of the study, employees and employers are invited to participate in separate surveys over the next several months.

Survey of Employees – This survey is for all employees, whether they are recreational or medical cannabis users or non-users. This anonymous survey will explore career confidence and perceptions of how employers are managing cannabis in the workplace.

Employees interested in taking the survey can click on this link.

Survey of Employers – This survey will explore employers’ actions to support employees’ career confidence and to manage recreational and medical cannabis in the workplace. It is intended for human resources and occupational health and safety leaders, and senior managers and business owners whose roles influence programs and policies that impact employees’ workplace experience.

Employers interested in taking the survey can click on this link.

Upon completion of each survey, a report will provide insights based on the participant’s responses. In addition, employers will be provided access to the final research report’s findings; employees will be offered a free e-book that aims to help build their career confidence.

This research is aiming to uncover the kinds of relationships that can be found between employers’ and employees’ behaviours around career confidence, cannabis, health, safety and productivity.

Results of this study will be released Oct. 15 at The Globe and Mail Centre in Toronto at a conference that will highlight what’s been learned since recreational cannabis was legalized in October, 2018.

This is the first in a series of articles designed to provide employees and employers information on recreational and medical cannabis, and to increase the level of awareness and education on this topic.

Bill Howatt is the chief of research for work force productivity at the Conference Board of Canada.