Don’t add more pot shops in Nova Scotia: psychologist

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A Dalhousie University professor who is also a clinical psychologist does not think highly of the possibility that the province might allow more Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. outlets to sell cannabis.

Referring to news reports that Finance Minister Karen Casey had asked the NSLC to consider adding more outlets, Dr. Simon Sherry said increasing the availability of pot also increases the use and abuse of the drug.

“From the alcohol literature and the tobacco literature, we know that what you call ‘outlet density’ is a robust predictor of use and abuse of alcohol and tobacco,” Sherry said Tuesday.

“And we know from a growing research literature on cannabis that outlet density when it comes to cannabis is linked to rates of current cannabis use, including use by adolescents. Outlet density is also linked to a lower age of using cannabis. You see it in the use of cannabis at an earlier age. There’s a link between outlet density and being hospitalized for cannabis and cannabis-related problems. So we’ve got a growing literature that also draws a connection between how many cannabis outlets you have per population or per geographical area and a range of cannabis-related harm.”

Sherry said cannabis is far from a harmless drug, citing links between pot and depression, anxiety, suicidal tendencies, psychosis, occupational problems and cognitive problems.

“Cannabis is far from a health product or a benign substance,” he said. “There’s a growing and trustworthy body of evidence that suggests that cannabis is harmful.”

So adding retail outlets might make sense from a finance point of view but not from a health perspective, Sherry said.

“We’re a national leader already in the percentage of cannabis users, the percentage of people with cannabis-use disorders, grams of cannabis used per person and sales of legal recreational cannabis, so we’re talking about increasing the number of stores in a province that’s arguably one of the heaviest cannabis-using populations in the world.”