Legalizing Marijuana Was Justin Trudeau’s Greatest Accomplishment, Poll Of Canadians Finds

As Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prepares to leave office, Canadians are giving him an exit review—and he’s evidently earned the highest marks for his role in legalizing marijuana nationwide.

A survey of Canadian adults from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute found that, among the prime minister’s policy achievements, cannabis reform was the most popular, with 52 percent describing it as a success of the administration. Just 24 percent called it a failure.

Out of 10 policy items that respondents were asked about, legalization was the only one with majority support.

Going down the list, 47 percent gave Trudeau credit for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, 46 percent supported his expansion of social services, 45 percent said he effectively navigated the Ukraine-Russia war and 39 percent backed his ban on assault-style firearms, for example.

Via Angus Reid Institute.

Marijuana legalization also proved more popular than the prime minister’s efforts to promote gender equality (38 percent), impose a federal carbon tax (19 percent), complete an oil pipeline (17 percent), respond to inflation (14 percent) and address immigration policy (10 percent).

The survey involved interviews with 1,850 Canadian adults from March 4-6, with a +/- 2 percentage point margin of error.

Canada legalized marijuana for adult-use at the federal level in 2018, with the vocal support of Trudeau, who campaigned on the issue.

While the implementation of the cannabis program didn’t come without its hitches, studies and surveys have indicated that it’s been generally successful, achieving many of the goals advocates argued it would such as giving Canadian adults a safer and regulated alternative to the illicit market, without driving youth consumption as prohibitionists claimed it would.

According to a government report released in December, the vast majority of Canadian consumers now say they obtain cannabis legally, with only 3 percent of respondents reporting purchasing from illicit sources.

Observers have also been watching how broader adult-use legalization impacts medical marijuana in Canada, noting, for example, patient enrollment rates declining after legalization was enacted but before retailers opened for business.

A study earlier this year, meanwhile, found similar marijuana use rates and support for legalization in both the U.S. and Canada despite the countries’ different national approaches to regulating the drug.

Another report out of Canada this year found marijuana legalization was “associated with a decline in beer sales,” suggesting a substitution effect where consumers shift from one product to the other.

A separate study last year found that the proportion of high-school students who said marijuana was easy to obtain has fallen in recent years.

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