Multiple barriers exist for people trying to access weed as a harm-reduction tool: study

published on May 27, 2020 by Michelle Gamage in Mugglehead

The regulated cannabis industry is blocking marginalized people from buying weed, according to a new study.

While working as a post doctoral fellow in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside from 2017 to 2019, cannabis researcher and harm reduction expert Jenna Valleriani didn’t meet a single person who accessed cannabis through the regulated market. 

She was working at the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use and researching how people use cannabis, but changed her research to ask why people weren’t buying legal weed. 

While interviewing 23 people who lived in the DTES and self reported using drugs, Valleriani heard that the price of regulated cannabis and lack of product selection were some of the top reasons people bought from their friends or an unregulated retailer…

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