Article content

Federal and provincial governments earned $186 million in cannabis-related revenue in the first 5 1/2 months since legalization in October, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.

The Ottawa-based agency said revenue came from product-specific excise taxes and general taxes on goods and services, such as the Harmonized Sales Tax, directly related to the sale of cannabis.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Governments earned $186M in pot taxes in 5 1/2 months of legalization: StatCan Back to video

The federal government drew $19 million in excise taxes, while provincial governments got $79 million from excise taxes and related adjustments.

Statistics Canada says revenues from general taxes on goods and services brought in an additional $36 million at the federal level and $53 million via direct provincial general taxes on goods and services.

It added that excise taxes increased by 12.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2019 compared with the fourth quarter of 2018 on higher sales by licensed producers to distributors.