Canadians want lower prices, higher THC limits: survey
About half of the general population of adult Canadians express support for governments reducing their hidden taxes on cannabis products
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New data from Pollara Strategic Insights reports that Canadians want to see the prices of legal weed lowered and THC limits increased.
Those are the preliminary findings from a subscription-based syndicated study that Pollara, a Canadian market research firm, is launching in Feb. 2023.
“This study will be dedicated to testing the impact of a range of market, regulatory, product, retail, and brand levers upon current and potential cannabis users’ legal purchase patterns,” Pollara said in a news release.
Ahead of the study, dubbed Growing Green, members of Pollaras team presented the data at the Cannabis Insights Forever conference. The presentation was primarily devoted to answering the question of whether lower prices and higher THC purchase limits can persuade illegal cannabis buyers to go legal.
They found that individuals who consumed cannabis in the past 12 months are more likely to believe that legal prices are higher than illegal prices by a 2-to-1 margin, but about half believe pricing is about the same or are unsure.
Among those who reported purchasing cannabis from the illicit market in the last 12 months, more than 60 per cent indicated that they intend on buying legally more often (25 per cent), exclusively (26 per cent) or for the first time (11 per cent).
For those currently unswayed by the legal market, about 70 per cent said they would buy legal weed if the prices were reduced by 30 per cent. Smaller price reductions, including just five per cent, would also bring more consumers over to the legal market, according to Pollaras findings.
In terms of reducing prices, Pollara reports about half of the general population of adult Canadians express support for governments reducing their hidden taxes on cannabis products “when presented with reasoning and arguments in favour of this proposal.”
The 2022 Canadian Cannabis Survey also found that more respondents acquired cannabis from legal sources compared to previous years. “A smaller proportion reported illegal storefronts and illegal online sources in 2022 compared to 2019,” Health Canada points out.
If lowered prices arent enough to convince Canadians to purchase weed legally, upping the THC limits would, Pollara found. Nearly 60 per cent of respondents said they would ditch illegal edibles if the THC limit was increased from 10mg to 100mg per unit.
Additionally, 54 per cent of illciti cannabis buyers indicated they would go legal more often if the purchase limits on drinkables were changed to be based on THC content instead of product weight, allowing them to buy more drinks at the time.
Earlier this month, the federal government approved a change in how the cannabis content of drinks is calculated, pushing the number of standard-sized, canned pot drinks that can be bought at once from five to 48.
Under the changes, the quantity of cannabis drinks adults can now possess at one time has increased from 2.1 litres to 17.1 litres.
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