Here Are the Drugs Canadians Are Doing More Than Americans

There are some illicit drugs that Canadians favour over Americans, according to the Global Drug Survey 2017. Of those surveyed in the US and Canada for the largest drug survey of its kind in the world, a higher percentage of Canadians reported using MDMA, cocaine, and psychedelic mushrooms in the last year than their counterparts in the US.

For this section of the Global Drug Survey 2017, over 10,000 Americans were surveyed and over 5,000 Canadians. The largest gap in drug use habits of these substances between the two countries was for cocaine, where nearly ten percent more Canadians reported using it in the last year than Americans. Canadians also rank high compared to the US for amount of cocaine used, an average of about 0.7 grams per session versus Americans' half-gram average—a statistic that ranks Canada just below the averages for Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia.

For psychedelic mushrooms, 28.5 percent of those surveyed in Canada reported taking them in the last year, whereas 21 percent of Americans did. However, when it comes to LSD, Americans beat out Canada for use in the last year: about 27 percent dropped acid; only about 15 percent of Canadians surveyed did.

Canadians also seem to favour MDMA over Americans: About eight percent more said they took the drug in the last year than Americans.

But when it comes to weed, despite Canada's impending legalized cannabis system set for next year, Americans and Canadians are pretty close. About 82 percent of those surveyed by the GDS said they've used cannabis in the last year as opposed to about 80 percent of Canadians.

The Global Drug Survey is conducted annually and allows people around the world to self-report their substance use habits at their own convenience. Just under 120,000 people in over 50 countries participated in this year's survey.

To learn more about your own drug use anonymously, use GDS's Drugs Meter to get unbiased feedback.

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