Cannabis Retailer recently commissioned Caddle Insights to survey 9,128 Canadians in May 2023 on their cannabis shopping habits, changes in consumption, spend on craft cannabis, and more. Consumer opinion varied widely based on age, gender, and location. Here’s what the survey found.
Cannabis Purchases in the Past Three Months
18% of respondents purchased cannabis in the past three months. This is consistent with the April survey results.
14% of females purchased cannabis in the past three months, versus 21% of males. Gen Z and millennials had the highest number of respondents that purchased cannabis in the past three months at 24% each. Greatest gen had the lowest number of respondents that purchased cannabis at 8%.
Change in Consumption of Cannabis Products
The majority of respondents (61.7%) said their consumption of cannabis products has remained the same over the past 12 months, while 30.7% said it has increased and 7.6% said it has decreased.
Similar responses were seen when broken down by gender. 58.9% of women said their consumption of cannabis has remained the same over the past 12 months, while 32% said it has increased and 9.1% said it has decreased.
64% of men said their consumption of cannabis has remained the same, while 29.3% said it has increased, and 6.7% said it has decreased.
There was greater variation in responses when broken down by age. 100% of greatest gen said their cannabis consumption has remained the same over the last 12 months, compared to 69% of baby boomers and 68.1% of Gen X.
The younger generations saw the greatest change in their cannabis consumption: 36.4% of millennials and 41% of Gen Z said their consumption has increased over the last 12 months.
Average Craft Cannabis Flower Spend
Respondents were asked how much more they would be willing to spend for craft cannabis flower. The majority of respondents said they would be willing to spend less than $2.00 more per gram (37.9%) or $2.00 to $2.99 more per gram (22.5%). Only 6.9% said they would be willing to spend $6.00 or more per gram.
Similar responses were seen when broken down by gender, with slightly more men than women willing to spend more on craft cannabis.
43.9% of women said they would be willing to spend less than $2.00 more per gram on craft cannabis, followed by 22.4% who said they would spend $2.00 to $2.99 more per gram. Only 4.7% of women said they would spend $5.00 to $5.99 more per gram on craft cannabis, and 7.2% said they would spend $4.00 to $4.99 more per gram.
Fewer men than women (33.9%) said they would be willing to spend less than $2.00 more per gram on craft cannabis and a similar amount (22.6%) would spend $2.00 to $2.99 more per gram. But on the higher end of the scale, 8.0% of men said they would spend $6.00 or more per gram on craft cannabis and 11.9% said they would spend $4.00 to $4.99 more per gram.
There was much greater variation in responses when broken down by age as shown in Table One.
Greatest gen had the highest number of respondents (51.6%) that would be willing to spend $2.00 to $2.99 more per gram, whereas the majority of baby boomers and Gen X would spend less than $2.00 more per gram on craft cannabis. Gen Z had the highest number of respondents (9.2%) that would be willing to spend $6.00 or more per gram.
Table One: How much more would you be willing to spend for Craft cannabis flower? (By age)
| Greatest Gen (1900-1945) | Baby Boomers (1946-1964) | Gen X (1965-1980) |
Millennials (1981-1996) |
Gen Z (1997-2005) |
|
| Less than $2.00 per gram | 11.9% | 50.9% | 42.3% | 33.1% | 29.7% |
| $2.00 to $2.99 per gram | 51.6% | 15.1% | 18.2% | 26.2% | 27.3% |
| $3.00 to $3.99 per gram | 28.5% | 14.1% | 17.4% | 19.1% | 21.9% |
| $4.00 to $4.99 per gram | 0.0% | 11.4% | 10.7% | 8.1% | 10.6% |
| $5.00 to $5.99 per gram | 8.0% | 2.2% | 5.5% | 6.3% | 1.3% |
| $6.00 or more per gram | 0.0% | 6.2% | 5.9% | 7.1% | 9.2% |
Preferred Ratio of THC to CBD
Respondents were asked what ratio of THC to CBD they prefer. 50% THC or higher was most popular.
Similar responses were seen when broken down by gender as shown in Table Two. However, more women than men preferred lower ratios of THC to CBD: 11.9% of women said they preferred 25% THC to 75% CBD and 18.7% said they preferred less than 25% THC.
Table Two: What ratio of THC to CBD do you prefer? (By gender)
| Men | Women | |
| More than 75% THC | 32% | 28.7% |
| 75% THC to 25% CBD | 28.0% | 20.2% |
| 50% THC to 50% CBD | 21.9% | 20.5% |
| 25% THC to 75% CBD | 9.0% | 11.9% |
| Less than 25% THC | 9.1% | 18.7% |
Once again responses varied widely when broken down by age as shown in Table Three. The majority of greatest gen (63.5%) prefer a 50% THC to 50% CBD ratio or less than 25% THC (28.5%), whereas the younger generations seem to prefer higher rates of THC to CBD.
Table Three: What ratio of THC to CBD do you prefer? (By age)
| Greatest Gen (1900-1945) | Baby Boomers (1946-1964) | Gen X (1965-1980) |
Millennials (1981-1996) |
Gen Z (1997-2005) |
|
| More than 75% THC | 0.0% | 24.4% | 32.8% | 32.9% | 28.3% |
| 75% THC to 25% CBD | 0.0% | 18.5% | 19.5% | 26.4% | 35.0% |
| 50% THC to 50% CBD | 63.5% | 20.9% | 25.0% | 20.3% | 19.3% |
| 25% THC to 75% CBD | 8.0% | 14.6% | 10.7% | 8.6% | 8.1% |
| Less than 25% THC | 28.5% | 21.7% | 12.0% | 11.8% | 9.3% |
Purchasing Products with Other Cannabinoids
Respondents were also asked if they have purchased products with cannabinoids other than THC and CBD. The overall results were evenly split: 47% of respondents have and 53% have not.
When broken down by gender, men were evenly split (51% have and 49% have not) whereas 40% of women said they have and 60% said they have not.
Surprisingly, there was less variation in responses when broken down by age as shown in Table Four.
More baby boomers and Gen X have not purchased products with other cannabinoids than other generations have. Comparatively, slightly more greatest gen and millennials have purchased products with other cannabinoids.
Table Four: Have you purchased products with cannabinoids other than THC and CBD? (By age)
| Greatest Gen (1900-1945) | Baby Boomers (1946-1964) | Gen X (1965-1980) |
Millennials (1981-1996) |
Gen Z (1997-2005) |
|
| Yes | 63% | 35% | 42% | 54% | 50% |
| No | 37% | 65% | 58% | 46% | 50% |