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Statistics Canada has released its Cannabis Stats Hub, a comprehensive report about the impact of cannabis on Canada’s economy.
The new data has produced plenty of interesting nuggets of information regarding Canadians relationship with cannabis.
The "Baby Boomer" generation, born between 1945 to 1964, have become larger consumers of cannabis, making up 23% of the overall share of consumers in 2017. That’s up from 4% in 1975.
In British Columbia, 13.6% of males in that demographic have reported using cannabis or hashish at least once in the 12-month period.
The Cannabis Stats Hub found that about 4.9 million Canadians aged 15 to 64 years old bought cannabis last year.
Canadian cannabis consumers spent about $1,200 each, mostly on recreational cannabis, which represented 90% of purchases, as opposed to medical marijuana.
In total, Canadians spent $5.7 billion on cannabis in 2016.
It is estimated that since 1991, the price of #cannabis for non-medical purposes has been declining by an average of 1.6% per year and had dropped to $8.30 per gram in 2017.
— Statistics Canada (@StatCan_eng) January 26, 2018
How much do you currently pay?
Tell us about your last purchase here: https://t.co/3gvvdziEvF pic.twitter.com/qw7OxqzmTB
As a comparison, StatsCan points out that in 2016, Canadians spent $22.3 billion on alcohol and $16 billion on tobacco.
Most cannabis consumed in Canada comes from Canadian growers; Canadian production has grown on average more than 7% every year since 1961, according to StatsCan.
By comparison, in the 1960s, it is estimated around 40% of cannabis consumed in Canada came from overseas. In 2017, that figure was just 8%.
In total, says StatsCan, the size of the cannabis growing industry was $3 billion in 2017, bigger than the $1-billion tobacco industry and the $2.9-billion brewery industry.
The announcement comes as statisticians prepare for the upcoming legalization of cannabis across Canada, and how to measure the current illegal consumption.
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