New research from the American Medical Association reveals that while adult cannabis use in Canada ticked up slightly after nationwide legalization, problematic misuse actually declined. Published in JAMA Network Open, the study followed 1,428 adults between 2018 and 2023, tracking their habits every six months. The findings suggest that legalization may promote more mindful and responsible use—challenging the idea that legal weed leads to widespread abuse. A key goal of the study—partially funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research—was to understand how cannabis consumption shifted after Canada legalized adult-use marijuana in October 2018. Researchers examined how often people used cannabis post-legalization, how those patterns varied depending on their pre-legalization habits, and how user preferences for different cannabis products evolved over time.