Most Canadians who consume marijuana pay just under $7 per gram.
That’s according to data released Friday by Statistics Canada based on a survey made available to Canadians over the course of a month from the end of January to the end of February.
“Canadians reported that the average price of cannabis in February was $6.83,” Statistics Canada said in the data sheet.
“Prices varied across regions with prices in Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and British Columbia below the national average and prices in all other provinces and territories above the national average. Average prices were particularly high in the territories.”
As part of an effort to establish a baseline pricing mechanism for marijuana once the substance becomes legal later this year, Statistics Canada has been working to crowdsource the prices people pay for pot across the country.
StatsCannabis, its online crowdsourcing application, collected data submitted by 17,139 respondents from Jan. 25 to Feb. 28.
According to those submissions, Canadians paid anywhere from $2 to $20 per gram but on average the price for a gram hovered at $6.83 — although the national statistics agency cautioned the results should be taken with a grain of salt.
“Caution must be exercised when interpreting these data because the sample is self-selected and therefore subject to many kinds of statistical bias,” the data release states.
In addition, the data set also lit up several aspects of pot consumption behaviour.
The majority of respondents said they used pot every day and 62 per cent said they used it for non-medicinal purposes.
Of the individuals who said they consumed pot for medical purposes, 26 per cent did so without a medical marijuana license, while just 10 per cent did so with a license.
Those using marijuana for a medical purpose with a medical marijuana license paid $7.21 per gram on average.
Those who used marijuana for non-medical purposes paid on average $6.78.
The respondents also suggested that the more marijuana they buy, the lower the price.
“The average price reported by Canadians who purchased 1 gram was $8.36 whereas price per gram was $5.48 for a purchase of 28 grams.”
The StatsCannabis application remains open and Canadians can continue to input information about how much they pay for pot.
credit:420intel.com
