80% of Cannabis Consumed by Daily Users in Australia

In a recent study published in the Society for the Study of Addiction (SSA), the University of Queensland (UQ) concluded daily users consume 80% of the cannabis in Australia. Dr Gary Chen, lead author at the Centre for Youth Substance Abuse Research at UQ, and his team, came to the conclusion using a Monte Carlo Simulation and the National Drug Strategy Household Surveys from 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. The findings revealed daily users accounted for between 81.6% and 85.7% of all cannabis consumed in Australia. With weekly users accounting for an additional 12.1% to 15.9%. Dr Gary Chen - University of Queensland This also tells us those who don't use cannabis either daily (5 out of 6 users), consume less than 20% of all the cannabis used in Australia.

In other words, the majority of cannabis was consumed by a small proportion of people who used it daily. This suggests harm caused by cannabis use is likely to fall on a small proportion of users.

With the impending legalisation of cannabis, Dr Chan advised these findings must be taken into account when considering future cannabis policies.

Cannabis legalisation needs to be accompanied by policies that discourage heavy use, such as a tax based on cannabis potency, restrictions on advertising, strengthening social norms that discourage heavy consumption and screening and intervening in the case of heavy cannabis users in primary care medical settings.

You can find the study here.