
With over 360 stores in Alberta, that province now has the highest consumption of legally purchased cannabis per person in Western Canada.
In the first 11 months of legalization, Albertans purchased $196 million worth of legal cannabis, according to recently released data from Statistics Canada.
With just 12% of Canada’s population, Alberta represented 22% of national sales of $908 million. This is no doubt due to the fact that cannabis is easily accessible in Alberta. Albertans live an average distance of 13 km. from a cannabis store. Compare that to Ontario, which has the largest population of any province, yet has only 24 stores open.
Albertans spent $45 per person on legal cannabis from October 2018 to September 2019, while Quebecers spent $23, Ontarians bought only $15, and British Columbians purchased a measly $10, highlighting that the illicit market is still very strong in those provinces. These numbers aren’t surprising given that as of September 30th Quebec had 18 government-run stores open, and BC had 123 legal stores.
The Yukon showed the highest sales per capita of $103, followed by PEI at $97 and Nova Scotia at $68.