POT SMOKERS NOW OLDER, WISER

Middle-Class, Adult Canadians Are Getting High Regularly, Study
Reveals

A variety of educated, middle-class Canadians are "making a conscious
but careful choice to use marijuana" to relax or focus on leisure
activities, say researchers behind a new study spotlighting pot
smoking behind the nation's picket fences.

These people might drive minivans to their full-time jobs or run a
household, but come time to unwind, it's not Dr. Phil who's calming
their nerves.

"It's an illegal activity, so it's still something people do in
secret, usually in the privacy of their own home," says Geraint
Osborne, whose study is published in the spring edition of the journal
Substance Use and Misuse. "They're a little reluctant to come forward
and talk about it, using the phrase that they're still 'in the closet.' "

A qualitative study of 41 adult Canadians nationwide suggests people
of all ages and educational backgrounds are lighting up. The
University of Alberta's Osborne and the University of Calgary's Curtis
Fogel led the study, which shows most of the participants smoke pot to
loosen up or enhance various leisure activities.

"Music, television, movies, computer games, creative endeavours, the
outdoors, sex -- they find marijuana makes all those things more
pleasurable," says Osborne, an associate professor of sociology.

"When they're using it to relax, it's typically being smoked when they
come home from work. It might be while they're preparing supper, or
socializing with friends, or just having a few puffs before they go to
bed."

Study participants were predominantly middle-class and worked in
white-collar jobs in industries such as health care, retail, social
work, service and communications. And 68 per cent held post-secondary
degrees, while another 11 per cent had earned high school diplomas.

A qualitative study involves a small sample size that yields a high
amount of detailed information because interviews are face-to-face and
in-depth. Osborne says the findings should be seen as preliminary
exploratory research that provides a detailed snapshot of this
demographic of marijuana user.

"The movies focus on the average marijuana user as a burnout, a
slacker. And certainly there are those people out there, but it's not
everyone," says Osborne.

"Eventually, I think we're going to see its decriminalization and
legalization, with the government taxing it and making money off it."

The study also found its middle-class participants consider themselves
responsible users of the drug, defined by "moderate use in an
appropriate social setting and not allowing it to cause harm to others."

According to a survey released last month by the Centre for Addiction
and Mental Health, we're seeing the slow greying of the Canadian
weed-toker and the average age of cannabis users has increased from 26
to 31 since 1977.

Ian Mulgrew, author of Bud Inc., says the trend has been wafting
beneath academia's radar for years and is only starting to surface
because of increased cultural tolerance for the drug. A nationwide
poll released this week showed 53 per cent of Canadians support the
legalization of marijuana, while the United Nations 2007 World Drug
Report revealed Canadians use more cannabis than any country in
Europe, Asia or Latin America.

"People are finally starting to recognize that judges and lawyers and
cops and doctors and other people who hold responsible jobs in society
like to have a reefer," says Mulgrew, an award-winning writer from
Vancouver.

The Fraser Institute estimates Canada's marijuana industry is worth
about $5.7 billion at the wholesale level. It is reportedly second
only to construction, and ahead of forestry, in terms of its
contribution to the gross domestic product of British Columbia.

Mulgrew says the trendiest pot paraphernalia -- smokeless, and pricey,
marijuana vaporizers -- are largely targeted to health-conscious
suburban dwellers that want to cut down on their inhalation of
respiratory toxins and keep the odour of cannabis out of their upholstery.

"We're not talking about a 17-year-old buying a glass pipe and
thinking it's a big investment," says Mulgrew. "These are smart people
with the disposable income to buy what amounts to a $700 hookah."