As Canada nears Legalization Day, the federal government is doing quite a bit of research into its citizens’ marijuana consumption.
How much we pay for weed, things of that nature.
Luckily, there are decades of data to pull from. Statistics Canada, for example, has ‘Experimental Estimates of Cannabis Consumption in Canada’ that span 55 years.
The most interesting finding from that particular data, as it turns out, is that our parents smoke – or at least buy – more cannabis than the younger generation.
“The results show that cannabis activity in the earliest years examined (1960 to 1980) is a youth market. However, in the middle of this period, the effect of rising consumption among persons aged 25 to 44 begins to transition the market towards older age groups (Chart 2, above),” reads the report.
“This process continues as persons aged 45 to 64 begin to enter the market in the late 1970s, and continues up to the last data point in 2015. In 2015, persons older than 24 account for two-thirds of cannabis consumers while persons aged 15 to 17 account for less than 6%.”
So while blazing blunts behind the mall between classes was indeed very 90s, the typical cannabis consumers today are more likely to be George and Ellen after a Sunday afternoon Nordic walk around the cul-de-sac.
A few more fun facts from the data:
- – By 2015, Canadians have consumed an estimated 700 tonnes of cannabis
- – Total consumption increased drastically in the 60s and 70s as youth began experimenting with marijuana
- – The value of cannabis sales in Canada for the year 2015 are between $5.0 billion and $6.2 billion
- – The cannabis market in Canada in 2015 is roughly one-half to two-thirds of the size of the $9.2 billion beer market, or around 70% to 90% of the size of the $7.0 billion wine market
Oh, and it is just a matter of time before cannabis gets absorbed by the ever-increasing wellness market.