Youth, parents, and providers in Ontario described barriers to reducing cannabis harms after legalization
Interviews with 88 people in Ontario revealed widespread concern about youth cannabis risks alongside normalization of use, with all groups identifying structural barriers like inaccessible services and inadequate public education.
Quick Facts
What This Study Found
Two themes emerged around perceived harms: concerns about addiction, brain development, motivation, and mental health impacts; and minimization of risks through conflicting messages, normalization, and perceptions of cannabis as less harmful than other substances. Harm reduction themes included implementation challenges and structural barriers such as unavailable services, easy cannabis access, and insufficient public education.
Key Numbers
88 participants: 31 youth, 26 parents, 31 service providers; 4 main themes identified; structural barriers included unavailable/inaccessible services, easy access to cannabis, inadequate public education, and insufficient lower-risk use guidelines
How They Did This
Community-based participatory research in partnership with Families for Addiction Recovery. Virtual semi-structured interviews with 88 participants (31 youth, 26 parents, 31 service providers) in Ontario, Canada. Data analyzed using thematic analysis.
Why This Research Matters
Five years after Canadian legalization, hearing directly from youth, parents, and service providers about what is and is not working for harm reduction provides actionable insights for policy improvement.
The Bigger Picture
Canada legalized cannabis partly to protect youth, but this study suggests the public education and harm reduction components have not kept pace with legalization, leaving youth, parents, and providers struggling to navigate the new landscape.
What This Study Doesn't Tell Us
Participants recruited through an addiction recovery charity, potentially skewing toward those with negative experiences; Ontario-specific findings; qualitative design not generalizable; no quantitative outcome measures
Questions This Raises
- ?What specific harm reduction messages resonate with youth versus parents?
- ?How can provinces improve service accessibility?
- ?Would standardized lower-risk guidelines reduce youth harms?
Trust & Context
- Key Stat:
- 88 participants across three stakeholder groups
- Evidence Grade:
- Qualitative study with purposive sampling through an addiction recovery organization, providing rich descriptive data but not population-representative.
- Study Age:
- 2024 study conducted post-2018 Canadian legalization
- Original Title:
- Reducing the harms of cannabis use in youth post-legalization: insights from Ontario youth, parents, and service providers.
- Published In:
- Harm reduction journal, 21(1), 193 (2024)
- Authors:
- Kourgiantakis, Toula(2), Hamilton, Angie, Tait, Christine(2), Tekirdag Kosar, A Kumsal, Lau, Carrie K Y, McNeil, Sandra, Lee, Eunjung, Craig, Shelley, Goldstein, Abby L
- Database ID:
- RTHC-05435
Evidence Hierarchy
Uses interviews or focus groups to understand experiences in depth.
What do these levels mean? →Frequently Asked Questions
What concerned youth, parents, and providers most about cannabis?
All groups raised concerns about addiction, brain development, impacts on motivation and concentration, and mental health effects. At the same time, they described a culture of normalization and conflicting messages that made it difficult to take cannabis risks seriously.
What barriers exist for harm reduction?
Participants identified structural barriers including unavailable and inaccessible services, easy access to cannabis for youth despite legal age restrictions, inadequate public education campaigns, and insufficient information about lower-risk cannabis use guidelines.
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Cite This Study
https://rethinkthc.com/research/RTHC-05435APA
Kourgiantakis, Toula; Hamilton, Angie; Tait, Christine; Tekirdag Kosar, A Kumsal; Lau, Carrie K Y; McNeil, Sandra; Lee, Eunjung; Craig, Shelley; Goldstein, Abby L. (2024). Reducing the harms of cannabis use in youth post-legalization: insights from Ontario youth, parents, and service providers.. Harm reduction journal, 21(1), 193. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-024-01112-9
MLA
Kourgiantakis, Toula, et al. "Reducing the harms of cannabis use in youth post-legalization: insights from Ontario youth, parents, and service providers.." Harm reduction journal, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-024-01112-9
RethinkTHC
RethinkTHC Research Database. "Reducing the harms of cannabis use in youth post-legalizatio..." RTHC-05435. Retrieved from https://rethinkthc.com/research/kourgiantakis-2024-reducing-the-harms-of
Access the Original Study
Study data sourced from PubMed, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.
This study breakdown was produced by the RethinkTHC research team. We analyze and report published research findings without making health recommendations. All interpretations are based solely on the published abstract and study data.