Since the Justin Trudeau government turned the dream of legalizing recreational and medical cannabis into reality nearly two years ago, the eyes of the world have been focused on Canada. Which has become, in effect, the largest political, economic and industrial experiment on the subject .
There is no point in denying it: like all “epochal” processes, this one has also proved difficult and turbulent. If anyone thinks that a law has magical powers, they are wrong. The transition from illegal to legal sales is a journey that does not end in a few days .
On the other hand, for the Canadian government, taking away oxygen from organized crime, by taking away a very important market share such as the illicit dealing of marijuana, has always been the primary objective, the main reason that moved towards legalization .
Well, after twenty months, the results are starting to arrive . And they have nothing to do with the ghosts agitated by the prohibitionists who feared the risk of an excessive increase in consumption (which has not happened at all, on the contrary).
Canadian household spending on legal cannabis in the second quarter of the year surpassed the illegal market for the first time, marking a significant milestone for the legal cannabis industry .
Statistics Canada said Friday that Canadian household spending on recreational cannabis reached $648 million in the second quarter of 2020, up 74% from the same period last year. Meanwhile, spending on medical cannabis remained flat at $155 million in the second quarter.
Canadian household spending on illegal cannabis fell to a new low of $784 million in the second quarter, StatsCan added. Overall, the legal cannabis market now accounts for 50.5% of all pot-related spending in Canada .
This is an extraordinary result, which should be taken as an example by those who – also and above all in Italy – fill their mouths with fine words against the mafia and then do nothing to really fight it, starting from what is the main economic activity of criminal organizations: the dealing of what, incredibly, continues to be considered drugs .
