Changing cannabis legislation in Canada and a longitudinal look at "regular" cannabis use in patients with eating disorders.

Regular cannabis use (CU), defined as "weekly or more often", is associated with a number of negative mental health outcomes. In the last decade, Canada legalized first medical and then recreational CU. Despite higher prevalence in mental health populations, little research has documented changes in frequency of CU with progressive legalization of cannabis. This study examined rates of CU in a sample of 843 treatment-seeking patients with eating disorders (ED) in an outpatient setting between 2004 and 2020. Across ED diagnoses, segmented regression indicated a significant break-point in regular CU in 2014, commensurate with the relaxation of medical cannabis laws. Regular CU increased from 4.9 % to 23.7 % from 2014 to 2020; well above the stable 6 % found in the general population. No significant break-point was observed in either alcohol or illicit substance use over the same time period. Significant increases in regular CU were found in patients with anorexia nervosa and binge eating disorder, while regular use remained stable in patients with bulimia nervosa. Comorbid psychiatric diagnoses did not increase odds of regular CU. Findings suggest certain patient groups with mental illness may be at risk of engaging in high frequency use in the context of legislation implying medical benefits of cannabis.

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Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of competing interest I.B. has received funding from the International Centre for Responsible Gaming and the Gambling Research Exchange Ontario as well as consulting fees from Bausch. Dr MacKillop has served as principal and senior scientist for Beam Diagnostics, Inc; and has received personal fees from Clairvoyant Therapeutics, Inc. No funding from these entities was used to support the current work, and all views expressed are solely those of the authors. All other authors have no conflicts of interest or relevant disclosures.