Legal Recreational Cannabis Gains in Ontario
OCS Stats Suggest Legal Recreational Cannabis Slowly Catching Up to Illegal Cannabis – LPC
The Toronto Star reports that legal recreational cannabis is catching up to illegal cannabis in terms of market share. However, the gain is slight, according to the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) stats. Legal sources of cannabis held 25.1 per cent of the market (April to June quarter) compared to 24.7 per cent the quarter before. There were 110 legal retail cannabis stores in Ontario by the end of that quarter compared to 22 the year before.
Still, the OCS is touting it as a victory.
“This quarter marks a milestone for the sector on the critical front of pricing,” said OCS chief commercial officer Cheri Mara.
The average price of dried flower per gram on OCS.ca fell to $7.05 including taxes. Meanwhile, the average price of illegal mail-order cannabis reached $7.98. In all, OCS dropped prices on 558 products during that quarter.
The picture is rosier in the country as a whole. Stats Canada announced in September that legal cannabis sales outpaced illegal cannabis for the first time during that same quarter. Other statistics showed that the “thriving illegal cannabis market” in Vancouver was anything but.
Consumers also see safety in some of the more complex Cannabis 2.0 products. Vapes were the second-highest area of OCS sales at 14.5 per cent. Cannabis edibles meanwhile were at 4.3 per cent and cannabis beverages at 1.5 per cent of total OCS sales.
Now that the Ontario retail cannabis market has finally opened up, we should expect bigger gains for legal cannabis in the coming months and years.
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