Unlike their government, Canadians are keen on weed edibles

As the federal government races to iron out the logistics of legalizing marijuana by next July, question marks linger around the issue of edibles, which the government has decided not to allow for sale for the time being. But two studies have made one thing clear — people want them.

A Dalhousie University study released on Tuesday found that 68 percent of Canadians support legalizing weed, and almost 46 percent of Canadians are willing to try cannabis-infused food products. If they’re sold at a grocery store, 46 percent of Canadians would consider buying weed-infused bakery products, like brownies and muffins, while 27 percent would go for any ready-to-eat product, like candy.

“Let’s face it, the drug has been illicit for almost 100 years, so we’re just going through what Canadians went through with alcohol, with prohibition, but this time with marijuana,” said Sylvain Charlebois, a professor of food distribution and policy at Dalhousie’s faculty of management and a co-author of the study. “So there’s curiosity, intrigue, which is driving people to want to try.”

About 39 percent said they’d be willing to order a dish with marijuana at a restaurant, but most—85 percent—said it would only be on nights and weekends.

The government’s cannabis legalization bill excludes edibles, which they’ve indicated will be “made available for purchase once appropriate rules for the production and sale are developed,” from the planned rollout next July. These include guidelines for packaging, labels, and serving sizes. As of right now, the plan is to only allow the sale of fresh and dried cannabis, oils, as well as seeds and plants for home growing.

Charlebois believes that the government hasn’t done enough to engage Canadians about edibles.

“Edibles do exist, will continue to exist, and once marijuana becomes legal, you may see more edibles despite the fact that the government decides not to allow them on the market.”

“If legal marijuana is more expensive and less attractive, you can see the black market expanding, and if that happens, you could see more edibles. I’m just not convinced the government has thought of that,” he told VICE Money.

The government has already heard from industry insiders that delaying the sale of edibles won’t keep them off the streets.

“If the government is not going to allow edibles and extracts, we’re going to continue to sell them through dispensaries, through the black market. They will be unregulated, but we do our best to make sure these products are safe and labelled,” pot activist Dana Larsen told MPs studying the bill earlier this month.

An Ipsos poll commissioned by Global News illustrates that scenario. The survey shows that 29 percent of people will consume edibles when weed becomes legal, up from seven percent who do now—that number is significantly higher for people between the ages of 18 and 34, 51 percent of whom said they’d try edibles.

The Dalhousie study, which surveyed 1087 people over a four-week period in August, also found that only about 20 percent Canadians felt they knew enough about cannabis to cook with it at home. About 47 percent of those who said they would order something with marijuana at a restaurant or buy a cannabis-infused food product cited being curious and wanting to try it as a reason, while 45 percent said it would be for its psychoactive effects and therapeutic properties.

“If people start cooking at home, without the proper knowledge, I’m not seeing anything that would suggest the government will play a proactive role in educating the public around dosage, how you protect your children from the product, and these kinds of things,” said Charlebois. “I think C-45 should be much more comprehensive than it is now.”

Neither report found any indication that legal weed would replace alcohol. The Dalhousie study said 59 percent don’t feel a marijuana-infused dish would replace an alcoholic drink they’d normally have, while the Global poll found only seven percent said they’d drink less under legalization. That number was higher for millennials, but still only 11 percent.

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