Canada Has Destroyed 3.7 Million Pounds of Cannabis Since 2018

Graham Abbott

12 months ago

Canadian cannabis operators destroyed a record amount of legal cannabis in 2022 and 2023. Since the market’s 2018 launch, licensees have now destroyed about 3.7 million pounds of product, largely due to the products being too old or low-quality.

Full story continued below.

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Data from Health Canada shows that Canadian cannabis operators destroyed a record 611.7 million grams (about 1.7 million pounds) of cannabis products and unpackaged cannabis flower in 2022 and during the first half of 2023, MJBizDaily reports.

The number represents about 16% of the industry’s total 2022 production; and, while data from the second half of 2023 is not currently available, the first six months suggested that the industry is inching closer to a supply-demand equilibrium, the report said.

Cannabis industry consultant Farrell Miller said the usual reason for destroying packaged cannabis products is their age.

“There is no demand for old and low-THC products, so manufacturers of finished products are not buying this biomass as inputs. …As consumers become more savvy with packaging dates on dried cannabis products, this trend will only continue.” — Miller, via MJBizDaily

The total amount of cannabis destroyed by Canadian cannabis operators has now exceeded 3.7 million pounds of cannabis and cannabis products.

Canada, which became the first North American country to legalize adult-use cannabis in 2018, has experienced issues of cannabis overproduction since the industry’s launch. Experts say this is at least partly because the country’s publicly held cannabis companies were initially being valued based on the amount of cannabis they could produce, not sell, according to the report.

A poll published last October found that 65% of Canadian cannabis consumers utilize the legal market. Another report from June 2023 found that the Canadian cannabis industry saw its sales grow 157% over the previous two years.

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