Canadians pay an average of less than $7 a gram for pot, according to Statistics Canada data collected through a crowdsourcing pilot project.
More than 15,000 Canadians have participated in StatsCan’s online survey since Jan. 25, exceeding expectations of 1,000 to 2,000 entries.
Broken down by province and territory, the average price for a gram of dried cannabis ranges from a low of $5.89 in Quebec to a high of $11.89 in Northwest Territories, compared to the nationwide average of $6.79, according to the data provided to CBC News.
In the online survey form, StatsCan provides 2017 price estimates averaged from a variety of sources, which are higher than the data collected through this crowdsourcing initiative. StatsCan economist Conrad Barber-Dueck said this sample might report lower prices because it includes a higher rate of daily users who generally buy in bigger, cheaper quantities.
Asked if people might be lowballing the price in order to drive down the retail price when cannabis becomes legal, the agency said it’s hard to see collusion.
“We don’t know if people are misreporting, although at nearly 16,000 respondents from across the country, it would be difficult for respondents to have a co-ordinated effort to skew the results,” said Barber-Dueck. [Read more at CBC News]
