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Legal cannabis prices down, sales up: study

Published on September 5, 2025 by Pat Bulmer

Photo: Adobe Stock/the oz.

Canadians bought 78% of their cannabis from legal sources last year, a new study says.

Sales have been growing as legal cannabis prices have declined, the study by researchers in Canada, the US and U.K. shows.

The study — Self-­Reported Cannabis Prices and Expenditures From Legal and Illegal Sources Five Years After Legalisation of Non-­ Medical Cannabis in Canada — polled 2,686 Canadians 16-65 about their cannabis purchases as part of an international survey.

Prices of legal cannabis products have decreased substantially since legalization in Canada in 2018, with the difference in the cost of legal and illegal products narrowing, the researchers said.

“Most consumers reported purchasing from the legal cannabis market, reflecting considerable progress towards Canada’s objective of displacing illegal sources through the creation of a legal cannabis market,” the study said.

In 2019, the year after cannabis legalization, data suggested 45.7% of past year purchasers of dried flower, the most popular form of cannabis, bought from legal sources. Now, that total has climbed to about 80%.

The price of cannabis from legal sources was substantially higher than the price from illegal sources immediately following legalization, researchers said, slowing the transition to the legal market.

“Following legalisation, consumers reported that higher prices in the legal market deterred their transition from the illegal market. The current findings suggest that, although legal prices remained higher for most products, prices of both legal and illegal cannabis products have decreased since legalisation, the latter likely to stay competitive with the legal market.”

As an example, dried flower sold for approximately $12 per gram two years after legalization compared to roughly $5.75 now.

The study is one of the first to compare legal and illegal sales in a jurisdiction that has legalized recreational cannabis.

The study found percentages of legal and illegal sales varied depending on the cannabis product.

“Consumers were most likely to report purchasing all their capsules and drinks from legal retail sources in the past year, potentially due to their sophisticated manufacturing processes and costly shipping expenses. Consumers were least likely to report purchasing hash and concentrates from legal sources at last purchase.”

Overall, 69.1% of respondents reported their last purchase came from a legal source.

“Averages differed between cannabis products, ranging from a low of 55.6% for hash to a high of 80.2% for drinks.”

Legal cannabis sales in Canada totalled $4.7 billion in 2022-23.