Cannabis and work

A team at the Toronto-based Institute of Work and Health (IWH) is doing a deep dive into the issue, though, that might yield valuable data for the industry. Findings from the work will help identify gaps in knowledge, problematic perceptions and risky use patterns, Grant Cameron reports.

Published: Daily Commercial News, January 2020

From 2018 to 2021, the Institute for Work & Health is conducting a yearly survey of Canadian workers about cannabis to understand how the legalization of non-medical cannabis in October 2018 is affecting workers’ cannabis use, and affecting the beliefs of both users and non-users about cannabis use at work. The first survey was conducted in June 2018, before the legalization of non-medical cannabis four months later. This infographic shares some of what was learned.

Published: October 2019

Prescription and recreational drugs that act on the central nervous system can have many adverse effects, including cognitive and psychomotor impairment. An IWH systematic review has looked into the link between workplace injury and fatality risks and the use of such substances—including opioids, benzodiazepines and cannabis. In this presentation, Dr. Nancy Carnide shares findings from that systematic review.

Published: May 2019

Can we use coroner data to establish incidences when cannabis is involved in a workplace fatality? This study aims to find out.

Status: Ongoing

An IWH research team is following up pre-legalization survey of workers about their use and perceptions of marijuana at work with a post-legalization survey that will determine if use patterns and perceptions have changed.

Status: Ongoing

Research is limited on the impact marijuana use has on productivity and safety at work. Now, organizations need to revisit their employment policies. Sophie Nicholls Jones reports, with findings from IWH's study of at-work cannabis use and attitudes.

Published: CPA Canada, November 2018

Recreational cannabis is now legal in Canada and many surveys suggest employers are concerned about the potential implications for workplaces. In this presentation, Dr. Nancy Carnide shares preliminary findings of a survey of workers, conducted in June 2018, aimed at understanding patterns of workplace cannabis use and the social norms and perceptions about such use.

Published: November 2018

With recreational cannabis legalization a week away, organizations across the country are having to revisit workplace policies in an attempt to balance safety and employee choice in Canada’s newly permissive legal environment. Mark Rendell reports on a cannabis business event hosted by The Globe and Mail, with IWH's Dr. Nancy Carnide among the speakers.

Published: The Globe and Mail, October 2018

Virtually nothing is known about why Canadians use cannabis on the job or how common it is for people to consume it at work, says the Institute for Work & Health's Dr. Nancy Carnide in this article on cannabis in the workplace.

Published: The Globe and Mail, April 2018

The federal government’s commitment to legalize recreational marijuana by July 1, 2018 raises occupational health and safety concerns for many employers. At the Institute for Work & Health (IWH), we have been reviewing the effects of various drugs that act on the central nervous system — including marijuana — on workplace injuries, deaths and near-misses, write IWH's Dr. Andrea Furlan and Dr. Nancy Carnide. What is striking is how little high-quality evidence there is on the impacts of marijuana in the workplace and how inconsistent the existing data is.

Published: The Conversation, January 2018