Emerging Attitudes Regarding Decriminalization: Predictors of Pro-Drug Decriminalization Attitudes in Canada

AuthorAmy L. MacQuarrie,Caroline Brunelle
Date01 January 2022
Published date01 January 2022
DOI10.1177/00220426211050030
Subject MatterArticles
Article
Journal of Drug Issues
2022, Vol. 52(1) 114127
© The Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/00220426211050030
journals.sagepub.com/home/jod
Emerging Attitudes Regarding
Decriminalization: Predictors
of Pro-Drug Decriminalization
Attitudes in Canada
Amy L. MacQuarrie
1
and Caroline Brunelle
1
Abstract
Canada and the United States have recently evaluated the decriminalization of drugs as multiple
provinces and states put motions forward to consider drug decriminalization legislation. The
inf‌luence of factors such as demographics, substance use, perceived substance use risk, and
personality have not been widely studied in predicting attitudes toward drug decriminalization. A
total of 504 participants were drawn from university (n= 269, 53.37%) and community samples (n
= 235, 46.63%) through online social media groups and posts (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, Red dit, etc).
Analyses indicated that male gender, single or non-married relationship status, living outside of
Atlantic Canada, higher problematic alcohol use scores, lower Extraversion, higher Open-
mindedness, and lower perceived risk of using substances emerged as signif‌icant predictors of
support for drug decriminalization. These f‌indings have important implications as public attitudes
toward a substance inf‌luence drug policy.
Keywords
decriminalization, attitudes, substance use, drug policy
Introduction
According to the United Nations, the global prevalence of illicit drug use is 5.2% (United Nations
Off‌ice on Drugs and Crime, 2013). The World Health Organization (WHO, 2021) reported that in
2019, approximately 180,000 deaths were related to drug use disorders. In Canada, the number of
Canadians that meet lifetime criteria for any substance use disorder is 21.6% ( Pearson et al., 2013).
Although the use of illicit drugs has a low overall prevalence in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2018),
the disproportionate level of harm associated with drug use (Rush & Furlong, 2020) has spurred
the Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine (CSAM) to recently recommend decriminalization of
drugs combined with enhanced harm reduction and intervention programs (Leger et al, 2020).
1
Department of Psychology, University of New Brunswick Saint John Campus, Saint John, NB, Canada
Corresponding Author:
Amy MacQuarrie, University of New Brunswick Saint John, 100 Tucker Park Drive, Saint John, NB E2L 4L5, Canada.
Email: amacqua2@unb.ca

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