Toronto - October 23, 2018 – Producers and stock investors are betting that sizeable profits from legal cannabis are more than a pipe dream. Whatever the future highs and lows of the business cycle may be, the demand on opening day for legal cannabis outstripped the supply. Some studies are even projecting that within a few years the total amount Canadians annually spend on cannabis could exceed the total spent on alcoholic beverages.

4.9 million
Number of Canadian consumers who used, on average, more than 20 grams of cannabis in 2017.

$5.6 billion
What those 4.9 million consumers spent on cannabis.

6%
Percentage of cannabis users over the age of 15 who report they use cannabis on a daily or almost daily basis.

330,758
Number of Canadians with a prescription for medical cannabis (as of June 2018).

23%
Percentage of Nova Scotians who reported using cannabis in the last three months; the highest percentage in Canada. The national average was 14%. Quebec was the lowest, with 10% reporting using cannabis over the same three-month period.

$250 - $1,000
About 14% of cannabis customers (more than 650,000 Canadians) spent $250-500 on cannabis in the three months preceding legalization. About 7% (more than 320,00 consumers) spent from $501 to $1,000, and 3% spent more than $1,000 in the three previous months (or $333 per month, on average).

$6.5 billion
By 2020, it is projected that annual legal cannabis sales could exceed $6.5 billion — potentially topping the total sales of beer, wine and other spirits.

132
Number of licensed cannabis producers in Canada. Ontario and British Columbia lead the list, with 69 licensees in Ontario, and 30 in B.C.

SOURCES: Statistics Canada, Cannabis Stats Hub; CIBC 2018 analysis, Cannabis Almost Showtime