National Post

One-fifth of Canadian cannabis illegally sold abroad: StatCan

- Andy Blatc hford

• Not only do Canadians have a knack for growing pot, they’re also adept at sneaking it across the border, suggests a new report by Statistics Canada.

Last year, about $ 1.2 billion worth of cannabis — or 20 per cent of Canada’s total weed production — was illegally sold outside the country, according to a provisiona­l estimate released Thursday by the federal agency.

The figure was tucked into an economic report that is part of the agency’s broader effort to track Canada’s transition to a legalized recreation­al marijuana market.

With the federal government expected to legalize recreation­al pot as early as July, Statistics Canada is also building up its capacity to collect and crunch data to monitor the eventual cannabis industry. The documents, some of which will be published quarterly, are designed to help inform government­s on their social and economic policy decisions related to legalized weed.

But even within the black market, Canadians have proven to be highly proficient pot growers and exporters, the study suggested.

The agency estimated the illegal Canadian sales of the drug beyond the country’s borders last year amounted to $ 1.2 billion, which represente­d 20 per cent of Canada’s total production. By comparison, illegal pot exports were estimated at just two per cent of Canada’s overall production in 1961, the report said.

The agency stressed that all its estimates are provisiona­l and subject to potentiall­y large revisions because they rely heavily on assumption­s.

Conrad Barber- Dueck, a Statistics Canada economist, said to come up with the export numbers researcher­s examined data such as consumptio­n, domestic production, the size of the U. S. market, the Canadian share of the American market and seizure data at the border in both directions.

The export figures were key because they help researcher­s understand the possible impacts of the industry on Canada’s gross domestic product, he said. “We need to know what’s going across the border, what’s coming in and that tells us the impact to GDP,” Barber-Dueck said.

The vast majority of can- nabis consumed in Canada is grown in the country — to the point that the report found it was comparable to the domestic production of tobacco, beer and wine combined.

It estimated the pot- producing industry was worth about $ 3.4 billion in 2014, while domestic tobacco production that year was $1 billion and alcohol production was $2.9 billion.

In all, the agency estimated that 4.9 million Canadians between the ages of 15 and 64 years old spent $5.7 billion on cannabis last year. The number was smaller than what households spent in 2016 on tobacco ($16 billion) and on beer, wine and spirits ($22.3 billion).

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