According to an Economic Insights study from Statistics Canada, the nation’s cannabis consumption was an estimated 697.5 tons in 2015, valued at C$5 billion to C$6.2 billion. The researchers estimate that in 2015 there were 4.9 million cannabis consumers 15-or-older; two-thirds of those were over the age of 25, while just 6 percent were 15 to 17-years-old.
The analysis estimates the price range of cannabis products – from both the illicit and medical markets – was C$7.14 to $8.84 per gram.
The study purports that cannabis use among Canadian teens – 15 to 17-years-old – peaked in the late 1970s, at about 35 percent, before declining sharply in the early 1990s to about 12 percent and climbing to about 32 percent in the early 2000s. In 2015, teen-use rates sat around 23 percent. Under the various provincial rules to govern legal cannabis sales in Canada, the legal age to consume cannabis is either 18 or 19-years-old.
The highest rates of cannabis use in Canada over the last 45 years has been among 18 to 24-year-olds – about 45 percent in 1970, declining to about 20 percent in the early 1990s before climbing to about 42 percent in the late 1990s-early 2000s. The 2015 rate among young adults was an estimated 38 percent.
The rate of cannabis use among Canadians 25 to 44-years-old and 45 to 64-years-old both peaked in 2015 at about 22 percent and 12 percent, respectively. Previously, the watermark for 25 to 44-year-olds was about 16 percent in the early 2000s and about 6 percent among 45 to 64-year-olds in the late 1990s.
The researchers note that the figures indicate that the market value – C$5 billion to C$6.2 billion – is about one-half to two-thirds of the nation’s C$9.2 billion beer market and about 70 percent to 90 percent of the nation’s C$7 billion wine market.