Canadian Spend on Legal Cannabis in on the Rise
According to a report by Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics, in 2018, Canada’s spend on legal weed between 2017 and 2018 increased by almost a two-fold from $755 million to $1.6 Billion. Canadians continue to purchase weed from the black market. Stats Can be determined that Canadians spent $5.7 billion on weed in 2017. Nonetheless, as of 2018, Canada is now the third-largest consumer of legal marijuana in the world.
As legalization overtakes the black market, Canada’s legal weed market is projected to hit $7.8 billion in 2022. In five years since legalization, Canada will become the top legal weed consumer globally and will surpass California.
Although recreational cannabis will continue to dominate the sales of medical marijuana, by 2022, sales for medical use will be approximately $1.5 billion. Cannabis consumption per capita is also increasing in Canada. In 2018, the figure was 25 percent, up by 4 percent in 2017.
In 2019, the most significant factor of legal cannabis consumption is the opening of retail shops that match supply with demand. At the beginning of 2019, Ontario opened 25 privately-owned retail stores, by owners whose licenses were granted on a lottery-basis. In Downtown Toronto, there are four private cannabis retailers, whose shops continue to have customers lined up down the street to access their product. Although the 25-store cap was instituted to manage a nation-wide supply glut, it is going to be lifted.
Currently, the black market for weed sales is nearly double in North American then the legal market. However, as supply issues are addressed, and Canada’s regulators determine appropriate distribution, testing, marketing, and packaging laws, amongst others, the share of legal weed will inevitably increase.
