BC's lacklustre cannabis legalization, charted

Last month, Capital Daily published an extensive feature detailing the latticework of delays, bureaucratic odysseys and general red tape that has characterized the first months of legal cannabis in BC. The end result is that one of Canada's most cannabis-infused provinces now has one of its weakest cannabis sectors. Over the past few weeks we've asked our resident data analyst, Snejana Vorona, to dig up the numbers on how legal weed is selling in BC, and how it compares to both the rest of Canada and our own still-substantial black market. Her findings, as laid out below, point to a province that has disproportionately refused to find above-board weed dealers.

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Monthly cannabis stores sales by province and territory

2018Dec2019FebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec2020FebMarAprMayJun02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,00014,00016,00018,00020,00022,00024,00026,00028,00030,00032,00034,00036,00038,00040,00042,00044,00046,00048,000

Newfoundland and Labrador

Prince Edward Island

Nova Scotia

New Brunswick

Quebec

Ontario

Manitoba

Saskatchewan

Alberta

British Columbia

Yukon

Northwest Territories

Prince Edward Island

New Brunswick

Manitoba

Alberta

Northwest Territories

British Columbia

Newfoundland and Labrador

Nova Scotia

Quebec

Ontario

Saskatchewan

Yukon

Nunavut data is not provided

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As shown above, BC is in a distant fourth place when it comes to retail sales of cannabis. This isn't tremendously surprising with Ontario, which has nearly three times the population of BC. But Alberta, despite 700,000 fewer people, has been utterly thrashing BC's total since Day One. Wild Rose Country has been generally more permissive in granting licenses to both retailers and producers, and Alberta cities got a major head start on store openings. In the first days of legalization, when BC only counted one brick-and-mortar weed store, there were 12 in the Edmonton area alone.

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Cannabis stores sales Canada vs BC

Canada

British Columbia

Nov ’18

55,396

1,077

Dec ’18

58,848

1,239

Jan ’19

55,451

1,963

Feb ’19

52,082

1,888

Mar ’19

60,764

2,732

Apr ’19

74,636

2,532

May ’19

85,946

3,563

Jun ’19

91,692

4,230

Jul ’19

106,064

5,965

Aug ’19

125,954

12,037

Sep ’19

122,927

12,088

Oct ’19

129,980

12,937

Nov ’19

136,775

19,021

Dec ’19

147,885

17,768

Jan ’20

154,077

19,782

Feb ’20

151,930

21,009

Mar ’20

181,180

23,699

Apr ’20

178,429

23,850

May ’20

186,353

27,460

Jun ’20

201,061

29,393

scales are independent

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Thirteen out of every 100 Canadians lives in BC. But as the chart above shows, that ratio certainly doesn't hold true for the country's pot-buyers. In the first month of legalization, BC accounted for only 2% of Canadian pot sales. And it's only been in 2020 that BC's proportion of Canadian pot sales has risen enough to match its proportion of the Canadian population. Still, for a province widely known as the Napa Valley of Cannabis, it would be reasonable to assume that BC should be accounting for a slightly higher share of national sales.

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Total number of retail cannabis licences issued in BC

Surrey and Fraser Valley

6

Greater Vancouver and Sunshine Coast

50

Vancouver Island, Powell River and Gulf Islands

63

Interior and the North

149

Data current as of August, 28th 2020

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268 retail store licenses isn't nothing, but for context, that's the same amount of licenses that Alberta had issued a year ago. The keen observer may also notice that the most lightly populated region of BC is also the most disproportionate holder of cannabis retail licenses. One million of BC's 5 million people live in the Interior and North, but hold 55% of the province's retail licenses.

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Licensed vs unlicensed Canadian cannabis sales

2010201120122013201420152016201720182019202002004006008001,0001,2001,400

Cannabis products for non-medical use (licensed)

Cannabis products for non-medical use (unlicensed)

Cannabis products for non-medical use (unlicensed)

Cannabis products for non-medical use (licensed)

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It turns out Statistics Canada keeps tabs on black market (or "unlicensed") sales of recreational Canadian cannabis. And as the chart above shows, legal weed has definitely taken a bite out of the black market, but hasn't yet been able to overtake illegal weed in raw sales. As legal drugs go, this is a disparity that remains unique to cannabis. Black markets exist for Canadian alcohol and tobacco, but they aren't the primary supplier. It also shows that cannabis legalization has thus far failed at its primary stated purpose. In the months leading up to legalization, the federal minister responsible, Bill Blair, often talked up the primary purpose of the Cannabis Act as taking a scythe to the country's illicit market.