A new figure is out regarding Canadians and cannabis, and it’s a doozy! Statistic Canada estimates that Canadians could spend up to $1 billion by the end of the year once marijuana is legalized October 17. The agency is also predicting a steep decline in purchases via the illegal market.
Even more amazingly, that $1 billion valuation only includes recreational sales. Add the quarter billion or more in medical sales and you have beyond a burgeoning market.
Depending on the province or territory, persons must be 18 or 19 years old to legally purchase cannabis. The estimations made are done so utilizing statistics and census population data from the National Cannabis Survey. Said survey provides stats on how many illegal users will likely switch to the legalized market, how many non-users will try cannabis now that it’s legal and so on.
With all the data at hand, it’s estimated that around 5.4 million people will purchase cannabis in this fourth quarter and that they will add up to the billion dollar mark, if not surpass it. According to the breakdown, the illicit market would fall to 24 percent of the total cannabis sales in Canada — a steep decline from previous years.
The survey, which depends on self-reported use admissions, estimates household consumption expenditure and in the past people have favored the illegal market for non-medical purposes. That’s been the case for decades. Now, since October 17 of this year, legal cannabis has come to Canada and the numbers have been turned on their heads.
According to the full report, there are 29,892,021 people now eligible to consume cannabis. Of them, nearly 15 percent currently use cannabis, 49 percent of whom are definitely switching to the legal market and a little over 25 percent more who might make the switch. That leaves about a quarter of the market still obtaining weed illegally, but is still a huge shift in methods and in a positive direction.
As the $1 billion per quarter is bound to rise with time, at least incrementally, Canada is looking at a sharp shot in the arm of revenue. It may take some time to totally disrupt the black market, if that’s even possible, but what’s going to be coming in is going to be miraculous to the places it lands. From funding healthcare to specifically fighting the opioid crisis, there will be boosts that will do wonders.
