A new study shows that four years after Canada made it legal for adults to use marijuana, nearly six out of ten neighborhoods are within a five-minute drive of a cannabis dispensary. This shows how easy it is for people to get marijuana in Canada, according to a report by Ganjapreneur.
The study, which was done by researchers from different universities and research centers in Ottawa and Toronto, also showed that only 7% of retail cannabis stores closed for good over a four-year period.
The team of researchers tracked the status and locations of “all legal cannabis stores in Canada.” As of October 2022, they found that 3,305 retail locations were open. Researchers then compared the locations of dispensaries with what Statistics Canada calls “dissemination areas.”
A different study from 2021 found that “higher numbers of medical and recreational storefront dispensaries are linked to lower rates of opioid-related deaths,” especially deaths caused by synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
A 2020 study looked at crime rates in Colorado before and after the state legalized marijuana. It found that “certain types of crimes, such as property crime, larceny, and simple assault, dropped significantly in border counties in the Colorado region.”
