Data confirm weed’s popularity in Yukon The territory has had the highest monthly legal sales of cannabis per person in the country, as Yukoners spent $9.17 each month on the product. By Palak Mangat on May 21, 2019

The territory has had the highest monthly legal sales of cannabis per person in the country, as Yukoners spent $9.17 each month on the product.

That’s followed by Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.), at $8.60, according to Statistics Canada.

The information comes with the caveat of Whitehorse’s small population, which is pegged at just over 40,000.

This population figure sits lower than Yellowknife’s at 44,445 but higher than Iqaluit’s, which is pegged at 38,650.

(The N.W.T. Bureau of Statistics reflects this pattern, as its population in January 2019 was 44,598 while the Yukon Bureau of Statistics pegs the Yukon as having a lower 40,717 people as of the end of 2018.)

The greater Whitehorse area, including Marsh Lake, has a population of about 31,000, territorial figures show.

The data on cannabis were tabled by John Streicker, the minister responsible for the Yukon Liquor Corp. (YLC), on April 29.

They point out that quarterly surveys have not reported on the Yukon in the past, and this survey uses the capital cities as representative of the territories.

Based on that, Yukon has had just over $9 in sales per person each month.

The lowest is B.C., with a population of more than 5 million, at $0.32 and Ontario’s 14 million people mean $0.61 per person in monthly sales.

On a grander scale, Canada has seen $1.47 monthly sales per head for its population of over 37 million people.

Meanwhile, it also notes that as of mid-April, $2.2 million of product has been sold through the Cannabis Yukon physical store in the city’s Marwell area and e-commerce site.

What this translates into in terms of volume sold is 140 kilograms of cannabis over the six-month time frame after legalization took effect on Oct. 17 of last year.

Stats Canada points out the territory’s annual recreational consumption of cannabis sits in the range of 900 to 1,100 kilograms per year.

“It is widely acknowledged, that the reduction of illicit sales will not occur immediately as a result of legalization,” the data notes, calling for more time needed to help in things like the “establishment of consumer confidence in the new legal system.”

This new legal system as it currently sits is two-fold. After the first private retail cannabis store opened last month (Triple J’s Canna Space on Wood Street), there is now a mix of private and public options for Yukoners who set their sights on legal weed to choose from.

As of this morning, there were two other applications for private retail sales before the cannabis licensing board YG set up earlier this year.

They include Dawson City Cannabis and Ninetails Cannabis Inc. in downtown Whitehorse (the deadline to submit objections for the Dawson City site is June 7.)

The stats also note that the territory makes up less than one per cent of the country’s population (the Yukon is listed at 40,333 people out of Canada’s 37,242,571).

Given this figure, and “that our consumption is 40-50 per cent higher than the national average, this would put the Yukon’s annual recreational consumption of cannabis in the range of 900-1,100 kg/year.”

At the halfway point through this time span though, less than 20 per cent of that number (140 kilograms worth of product) was sold through the YG website and YG store.

“Without access to legal sales through Cannabis Yukon, cannabis users would continue to purchase cannabis products from the illicit market,” it added.

Meanwhile, YG has vowed to bow out of the cannabis selling game and has set this fall as a tentative date by which to shut down its existing Marwell site.

The government plans to keep YLC’s online store (cannabisyukon.org) active until further notice so as to better serve the communities, where there may not be as immediate interest for private retailers to set up shop.

However, there have not been any specific criteria set at this stage to determine when exactly is the right time to exit, beyond Streicker having said in the past it’s about access to cannabis in the territory and not based on dollar figures, for example.

Helping improve access means getting private sellers up and running, he added last month.

The physical site itself is being repurposed from an existing lease to another YG department, and is set to see its lease expire in December of this year.