Canada is now third on the list of top legal weed markets in the world

It seems going green was a hit for Canadians - as we reportedly spent $1.6-billion on legal weed in 2018.

Manisha Krishnan is a Senior Writer with VICE - which looked over the "State of the Legal Marijuana Market" report, released by Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics.

She tells Kitchener Today with Brian Bourke on 570 NEWS that number does include the medical system as well.

"Medical cannabis has been available for years - so that $1.6-billion figure includes all of 2018 for medical, and then essentially three months for when the recreational market opened up as well. But none the less - we basically doubled our spending on legal cannabis from the year before."

Legal cannabis has certainly been a hot commodity in the country, as there's been continued supply shortages - which some industry insiders expect will last for years to come.

"That's gonna be a problem that is gonna need to work itself out because experts have predicted everything from it taking a few months to sort itself out, to up to three years for that supply issue to be resolved. So obviously until that is sorted out - that is going to affect our sales here," said Krishnan.

These latest numbers also show Canada now has the top third "weed market" in the world - with California sitting in first.

"But according to this report, sales in Canada will hit $7.8-billion for 2022 - and it will basically edge out California as kind of the highest revenue generating legal weed regime in the world."



To hear the full interview, click here.