Transitioning to the legal cannabis market in Canada: Legal and illegal cannabis purchases, and the effect of price, retail availability, and consumer perceptions
Wadsworth, E., Hammond, D., Driezen, P., Pacula, R., & Kilmer, B.
This study examined cannabis purchases in Canada from both legal and illegal sources to determine: what proportion of consumers purchased cannabis from legal vs. illegal sources; how proximity to legal retail stores influences the purchase of legal cannabis; why people purchase cannabis from illegal rather than legal sources; and how the prices of illegal and legal cannabis products have changed since legalization. The study used data from two sources: (1) the Cannabis Retail Scan (CRS) and (2) the International Cannabis Policy Study (ICPS).
The results showed that more consumers sourced their cannabis legally in 2021 (59%) versus in 2019 (40%). Frequent consumers were slower to transition to the legal market than infrequent consumers. More Canadians (both cannabis consumers and non-consumers) lived within 3 km of a retail store in 2020 (44%) than in 2019 (26%). Distance to cannabis stores may impact legal cannabis purchases: 63% of consumers who lived within 5 minutes travel time to a cannabis store sourced all their cannabis legally versus 52% of those who lived over 15 minutes from a store. Consumers who bought their cannabis illegally believed that legal sources were inconvenient, priced higher, and of lower quality.
Publications:
Goodman, S., Wadsworth, E., & Hammond, D. (2022). Reasons for purchasing cannabis from illegal sources in legal markets: Findings among cannabis consumers in Canada and U.S. States, 2019-2020. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 83(3), 392–401. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2022.83.392