#LegalCannabisSales

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Legal Cannabis Market Outpaces Illegal Market

Stats Canada Show the Legal Cannabis Market Has Higher Sales Than Black Market Cannabis – LPC Canada has hit what one journalist calls a “significant milestone”. For the first time since legalization, spending in the legal cannabis market is higher than the illegal market. According to Stats Canada, legal cannabis amounted to $803 million versus $785 million for black market cannabis in the second quarter of 2020. The legal cannabis stats include both medical and recreational cannabis. Tarek Shbib, who owns the Spiritleaf in Kelowna, is not surprised. “I think it shows that the legal market has matured to a point where consumers now consider it the norm when looking to purchase cannabis products,” Shbib said. Consumers also see safety in some of the more complex Cannabis 2.0 products. “Products like these are not easy to produce safely, and so our customers appreciate that when they come to our stores, they know the product they go home with is safe and has been tested and made in a facility approved by Health Canada,” he said. Gap Should Only Widen BC itself seems to be the epitome of the battle between the legal cannabis market and the illegal market. From the beginning, BC had the lowest legal cannabis sales in Canada. Today though, there are signs of change. Stats in June showed the “thriving illegal cannabis market” in Vancouver was anything but. In August, sales showed legal cannabis sales in BC increased by seven fold over 2019. Read the full article

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Cannabis Black Market Dried Up in NFLD During Pandemic

Shop Owner Benefits from Legal Cannabis Sales Spike – LPC Thomas Clarke said his business is booming, thanks to COVID. The owner of Thomas H. Clarke’s Distribution in Portugal Cove-St. Philip's, NL said that cannabis black market dried up during the pandemic. "A lot of the people who came since COVID started actually came from the black market, because their supply had dried up," Clarke said. The Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation (NLC), which regulates provincial cannabis sales, said sales are up 14 per cent. Clarke said his sales are up more like 35 per cent. He was the only cannabis retail store in the province not to close at all during the pandemic. Clarke said strict physical distancing practices allowed him to stay open. It’s good news for a man who said there was no money in legal cannabis. Last year, he told CBC news that profit margins for legal cannabis were too thin. He’s also had problems with cannabis banking services after Canadian banks seemingly bowed to US pressure. Both the RCMP and the NLC are happy to hear that the cannabis black market dried up. Peter Murphy of the NLC hopes that with cannabis selling as low as $5 per gram, legal cannabis will remain competitive with the illegal market. That and a growing number of products will help, he said. “I think we've done a decent job over the last number of months of getting the product out there," Murphy said. Read the full article

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Is a Thriving Cannabis Black Market in BC the Truth?

Report Says Yes While Stats Say No – LPC A recent article in the Vancouver Sun suggests that a “thriving” cannabis black market still exists. (Please see link below.) However, the numbers tell a different story. The newspaper’s investigation found that five illegal retail cannabis stores open on a Sunday night in Vancouver. One of them, Granville Cannabis, had been raided a month before. “We know that there’s still the illegal stores up and operating,” said Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth. “The community safety unit has been out. They initially do site visits … saying ‘Hey, here’s the rules. And if you don’t abide by them, then we will be paying you additional visits. There will be confiscation of product and administrative fines.’” Indeed the numbers in the Vancouver Sun article seem to suggest that there isn’t really a thriving cannabis black market at all. Illegal stores are slowly getting squeezed out. Farnsworth said that 90 illegal retail outlets have shut down voluntarily and 36 are facing “administrative penalties”. Meanwhile, there were 256 licences for private stores and 16 government stores. Twenty-seven more private stores are waiting final inspection before opening. Further, Statistics Canada’s most recent report on cannabis users said that, in 2019, B.C. had the lowest number of residents purchasing from legal sources at just 36.6 per cent. But that was up from 23 per cent in 2018. Read the full article

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BC has the Lowest Legal Cannabis Sales. Why?

  Lack of Legal Options and Tradition of Black Market Lead to Lowest Legal Cannabis Sales in Canada - LPC

Statistics Canada showed that BC continues to have lowest legal cannabis sales in the country per capita – a fact that puzzles many. The so-called cannabis capital of Canada had just $19.5 million in sales in approximately nine months. In comparison, its neighbour Alberta sold $123 million, Ontario $121 million, and Quebec $119. Even PEI had $10.7 million in legal cannabis sales. So why the difference? Co-owner Mike Babins said when they opened Evergreen Cannabis Society in Vancouver, they were the only legal option. However, they weren’t the only option: most skipped legal cannabis sales and kept going to the other cannabis shops. “They’re starting to close now,” Babins said. “I think we’re up to 11 licences in the city, but we need a lot more than that. Probably 10 times as much as that to feed the city, because we love cannabis.” “There is a lot of illegal product out there,” he said. “A lot of people who have been doing things a certain way for generations. They don’t want to switch overnight.” The City of Vancouver announced that there are just five illegal dispensaries now. With more than double the stores, legal cannabis sales should be rising.

Many Reasons for Lagging Sales – LPC

Part of the reason why legal cannabis shops are growing slowly may be the review process. “Part of the challenge is ensuring that the legal cannabis market in BC doesn’t have links (to crime),” said Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth. Others, such as Tantalus Labs CEO Dan Sutton, said that blaming low sales on the black market is a “cop out”. Instead, there is a lack of political will to grow the legal market. “I question who are the political champions in the BC legislature who are really advocating for the strong growth.” Babins himself once said that price was an issue. Specifically, the government’s own markup made legal retail cannabis sales a challenge. Supply chain issues were also a problem. But from the beginning, BC trailed in legalized cannabis sales. The reality is, there are likely many reasons why BC has fallen behind in legal cannabis sales. The follow-up question is, when will things change in BC? This editorial content from the LPC News Editor is meant to provide analysis, insight, and perspective on current news articles. To read the source article this commentary is based upon, please click on the link below. Click here to view full story at globalnews.ca Read the full article