*The provincial excise taxes vary. Cannabis Benchmarks estimates the population weighted average excise tax for Canada.
**CCSI is inclusive of the estimated Federal & Provincial cannabis excise taxes..
The CCSI was assessed at C$5.22 per gram this week, up 0.5% from last week’s C$5.19 per gram. This week’s price equates to US$1,826 per pound at the current exchange rate.
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Health Canada data for the number of active registered medical cannabis clients is currently available from October 2018 to September 2021, and is shown in the chart above.
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Medical cannabis patient registrations have been on a steady decline with the inception of legal recreational cannabis markets in October 2018, except for the initial months of the COVID pandemic when retail shops were closed. Based on recent data, we observe roughly 3,000 fewer active registered medical cannabis clients each month.
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Provinces with well-developed recreational retail store footprints have seen the biggest loss in medical clients. Alberta, with the highest number of stores per capita, has seen active registrants drop by 57% since legalization. On the other hand, Quebec, with only 89 provincial-run retail cannabis stores currently, has seen patient registrations increase by 64%.
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Since recreational cannabis was legalized, the total number of medical cannabis shipments has dropped by a larger magnitude than the decline in registered clients. Total monthly shipments in October 2018 were 143,752, which fell by 34% to 94,420 in September 2021.
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Cannabis Benchmarks attributes the transfer of cannabis consumers from medicinal to the recreational path to increasing accessibility in the latter sector (both in terms of storefronts and online shopping), lower prices, larger product variety with similar potencies, and better education.