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The legalization of cannabis for adult use in Canada is one of the biggest national public policy shifts that many of us will witness.

This historic change in drug policy was proposed by the Canadian government as a way to promote public health, as the country grapples with some of the highest cannabis consumption rates in the developed world, including among adolescents.

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Meanwhile, Canada is struggling to contain an entirely different substance-related problem: The opioid overdose epidemic.

Fuelled by the contamination of the illicit drug supply with fentanyl and its analogues, the opioid epidemic is Canada’s gravest public health crisis since the emergence of HIV in the 1980s. Experts agree on the need for creative responses based on scientific evidence.

Increasingly, scientists from the fields of public health, medicine and economics are aiming to figure out if cannabis legalization could be part of the solution.