The Social Impacts of Illegal Cannabis Cultivation in Rural Quebec: Between Trivialization and the Degradation of Social Fabric
This paper proposes an empirical assessment of the impact of cannabis cultivation in two Regional County Municipalities (RCM) where the industry is pervasive. The study is divided in two main components one qualitative, and one quantitative. For the qualitative component, a sample of local residents was interviewed in order to assess their perceptions of the impact of the cannabis cultivation industry in their lives. For the second (quantitative) component, a self-report delinquency survey was conducted in the quasi population of high school students of the two regions (N = 1262) in order to assess the prevalence of youth participation in cannabis cultivation. Two main findings emerged from the first component: a) a general sentiment of fear among residents interviewed, and b) a clear reduction in social cohesion were perceived as direct consequences of the cannabis cultivation industry. As for the prevalence of adolescents involved in the industry, a non significant number of them were involved (15%) although not to the extent portrayed in the media. Among them we found a heterogeneous group of adolescents which included both otherwise law-abiding adolescents and a sub-sample of serious juvenile offenders found in every regions whether or not cannabis cultivation is present.