Canadians will spend up to $7B on cannabis in 2019, Deloitte predicts

After cannabis is legalized throughout Canada later this year,Canadians are expected to increase theirconsumption of the drug by up to 35 per cent and spend as much as $7 billion on legal and illegal sales in 2019.

Accounting firm Deloittemakes those predictionsin a new reportbased on anonline survey of 1,500 adults living in Canada's 10 provinces conducted between March 6 and March 20. The survey didn't include residents of territories.

Legal cannabis sales are expected to reach up to $4.34 billion, whileillegal sales could be anywhere from $510million to $1.04billion, and medical cannabis could account for between $770 million and $1.79 billion of the market, the report says.

People who already consume cannabisahead of legalization who tend to be 18to 34 years old anduse it multipletimes per weekare expected to start makingabout63 per cent of their purchases legally, despite having to pay what Deloitteanticipateswillbe about 10 cents more per gram after legalization.

"Over time, as retailers develop a better understanding of their customers' needs and behaviours, improve their customer experience and engagement programs, and fine-tune their products' quality and integrity, we could expect to see an increasing share of cannabis sales transition to legal sources," the report says.

Other findings

• Legalization is expected to bring more 35- to 54-year-olds into the market. They'llbe more likely to consume the drug less than once per month, the report says.
• Most people in the West, Ontario and the Atlantic provinces are expected to buy cannabis through legal channels (66, 65 and 55per cent, respectively), whilein Quebec, most people are expected to buy cannabis illegally (53 per cent).
• Six of every 10 cannabis users will choose edible forms of the drug, which won't be available throughlegal channels for at least a year after legalization.