Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cannabis cultivation and use in 18 countries.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying measures to mitigate infection affected many areas of society, including the supply and use of cannabis. This paper explored how patterns of behaviour among people who cultivate cannabis were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions.

Methods: An anonymous web survey of people who cultivated cannabis was conducted from Aug 2020 to Sep 2021, spanning 18 countries and 11 languages (N = 11,479). Descriptive statistics and mean comparison tests were conducted.

Results: Most cannabis growers reported that their practices were relatively unaffected by the COVID-related restrictions. While 35.2 % reported difficulties buying cannabis from their usual dealer, <10 % stated that access to materials needed for growing was impaired during the pandemic. Over one-quarter (28.2 %) of respondents increased their cannabis use and 21.4 % also increased cannabis cultivation (more than twice as many as those who said they were growing less or not anymore) while COVID restrictions were in place. People who lost their job or were casually employed were more likely to increase use and cultivation. Overall, the pandemic had little impact on reasons for growing, however, difficulties obtaining cannabis were mentioned as the most prevalent COVID-19-related growing motive. A small number (16 %) reported starting their growing activity during the pandemic. Italian and Portuguese growers were more likely to report shortages in supply and increases in their growing activity.

Conclusions: This study is the first to document an increase in cannabis cultivation activity following COVID restrictions. Increased home cultivation was not only driven by higher use as a result of home isolation, but also by disruptions of wider illegal cannabis supply. Limitations of this study include the non-representativeness of the sample as well as differences in approaches and duration of restrictions in different countries.