The Lower-Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines (LRCUG): A ready-made targeted prevention tool for cannabis in New Zealand

Abstract

Cannabis use is common, especially among young people, and associated with risks for select acute and chronic adverse health and social outcomes. New Zealand features overall high cannabis use levels, yet may soon follow other jurisdictions and implement legalization of non-medical cannabis use and supply towards public health objectives. While existing cannabis-oriented interventions mainly focus on primary prevention and treatment (e.g., for dependence), key harms from use are crucially influenced by risk factors that can be modified by the user. On this basis, and similar to other health behavior-oriented interventions, ‘Lower-Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines’ (LRCUG), consisting of 10 recommendation clusters for lower-risk use, were systematically developed in Canada as an evidence-based, targeted prevention tool towards reducing adverse outcomes among cannabis users. We briefly summarize the concept of and experiences with implementation of the LRCUG elsewhere, and describe how their adoption as a population health intervention may serve public health goals of possible cannabis legalization in New Zealand and elsewhere.

Keywords

• Cannabis
• Health behavior
• Legalization
• Prevention
• Public health
• Risk