News

BC cannabis sales down slightly

Published on May 22, 2026 by Pat Bulmer

Photo: David Wylie/the oz./file photo

Even though there are more stores, cannabis sales overall are down in BC.

That’s the bottom line in the BC Liquor Distribution Branch’s latest Cannabis Wholesale Quarterly Sales Report, covering January, February and March.

A total of 37,966,980 grams of cannabis were sold, down 0.1% from the same quarter a year ago. Total wholesale sales amounted to $142,853,711, down 0.8%.

The price of dried flower dropped 0.3% to $3.14 per gram (from $3.15 last year), the report said.

Retail stores grew to 528 stores from 513.

The BC report provides a series of sales statistics in chart and graph forms without commentary.

Top-selling category was vapes, infused prerolls and other “inhalable extracts” at almost $55 million, followed by flower at $40 million and prerolls at $31 million.

Edibles, inhalables, prerolls and topicals showed sales increases from last year’s quarter.

Flower, ingestible extracts (pills, capsules, tinctures etc.), beverages and seed sales were down.

The top-selling flower format came in 28-gram packages, which generated more than $20 million in sales. Flower sales were down in all sizes.

Indica was the preferred flower blend, accounting for 56% of sales with sativa at 30% and hybrid at 13%.

Vape cartridge sales totalled about $21 million, or 900,000 units, down from a year ago. Infused preroll sales at about $19 million or 1.1 million prerolls, also dropped slightly.

Direct delivery sales rose by some 600% to almost $18 million for the three months.

The months of January, February and March are known in the report as the fourth quarter of 2025.

BC needs to do more to fight illicit cannabis

Meanwhile, another BC government report said the province needs to do more to combat the illicit cannabis market.

“The illicit market still accounts for about 40% of cannabis consumed in BC,” said the BC Cannabis Legal Market Strategy, released in April.

About one-third of adults in BC use cannabis at least once a year, the report said, citing surveys. “While most people (about 70%) exclusively buy cannabis from legal sources, survey results show people may not always know what’s legal and what’s not. Survey results suggest about 30% of people buy at least some cannabis products from illicit stores, websites, or from a dealer.”

Cannabis that doesn’t have an excise stamp and companies that claim they can ship anywhere in Canada are among the signs the cannabis you’re buying is illegal, the report said. Illicit cannabis products, especially edibles, tend to have higher THC potencies, as well.

“Results of testing on illicit cannabis .. showed significant amounts of pesticides, heavy metals and contaminants like arsenic and e. coli in most of the samples, the report said.

So what’s the strategy? Educating people about illicit cannabis, cracking down on illegal sellers and continuing to develop programs to support legal retailers, for example through regulation reduction and special event permits, said the report, which also encouraged continuing collaboration with “Indigenous governments.”