On April 13th, 2017, the federal government introduced Bill C-45, or the Cannabis Act, which is new legislation that will establish the legislative framework for cannabis, identifying permitted and prohibited activities. Generally speaking, the federal framework is less extensive than that of alcohol and more extensive than tobacco while maintaining its criminal law effectiveness (see figure 1). The Government of Canada's goal is to keep cannabis out of the hands of Canadian youth, and to prevent organized crime from continuing to profit from the illegal cannabis market. Canadians continue to use cannabis at some of the highest rates in the world. In 2015, 21% of youth and 30% of young adults reported using cannabis within the last year [1]. A baseline study still needs to be established in order to better capture how prevalent cannabis use is among youth and at-risk people in First Nation communities. The concern of abiding to OCAP principles during such data collection have been raised.
