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“I’d Say, ‘Smoke a Little Weed, You’ll Feel Better:’” Ethnographic Observations of Cannabis Use in the Canadian Arctic

Peter Collings,Elspeth Ready

Published 2025 in SSM - Mental Health

ABSTRACT

This paper is an ethnographic description of cannabis use in a Canadian Inuit settlement. Cannabis is pervasive in Inuit communities, and both Inuit and public health authorities see it as a serious health and social problem. There is a general understanding that Inuit smoke cannabis to cope with stressors, but little investigation why Inuit choose cannabis instead of other options for managing stress. We describe how cannabis is a pathway through which cash and information circulate in communities, focusing on how smoking cannabis socially provides culturally appropriate forms of support for men experiencing stress. The interpersonal interactions occurring in the context of social cannabis use suggest persistence of traditional healing practices despite historical suppression, revealing how Inuit understandings of personhood and stress continue to shape how men offer support to one another. The positive social and psychological functions of cannabis, however, exist alongside the negative health effects and the economic and interpersonal consequences of excessive use.

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