OTTAWA – The federal government is hoping to find strength in numbers as it tries to stamp out the illicit marijuana market. Government officials are collecting data – everything from the street price of pot to how often people light up – to arm themselves in the fight against organized crime's presence in the trade, internal Public Safety Canada documents reveal. The Liberal government has tabled legislation to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana use, with the aim of keeping pot out of the hands of children while denying criminals the hefty profits.

Parliamentary Secretary Bill Blair, left to right, Justice Minister and Attorney General of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Minister Ralph Goodale and Health Minister Jane Philpott make their way to the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on April 13, 2017, where they unveiled the government's marijuana legalization legislation. (Photo: Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press) Officials had already identified 45 specific categories of information they would need to gauge the success of the new policy. Of these, Canada collected data to calculate about seven, some partial information on a further 17 and little to no figures on the remaining 21 categories. The wide variety of missing data includes a measure of the fire hazard posed by grow-ops, overdose statistics, the scope of crop-eradication efforts and effects of marijuana use on school performance. The government plans to monitor patterns related to cannabis use, especially among young people, on an annual basis through the Canadian Cannabis Survey. In March, Health Canada began the two-month survey, involving some 10,000 Canadians, said a department spokeswoman. The planned questions most relevant to organized crime were related to the type, quantity and frequency of pot consumed, where it is being obtained, the purchase price and contact between users and police, say March notes released by Public Safety through the Access to Information Act.