Rundle Samantha, Hong Daniel Danh, Iraniparast Maryam, Rynard Vicki, Wadsworth Elle, Pacula Rosalie Liccardo, Kilmer Beau, Hammond David
School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada.
RAND Europe, Cambridge, UK.
Drug Alcohol Rev. 2025 Sep;44(6):1658-1665. doi: 10.1111/dar.70009. Epub 2025 Aug 4.
The price of cannabis has important implications for many outcomes discussed in legalisation debates. This paper reports on legal and illegal prices of different cannabis products.
National surveys were conducted in 2022 and 2023 among Canadians aged 16-65 years as part of the International Cannabis Policy Study. Self-reported price, purchase quantity and legal versus illegal source of the'last' cannabis purchased was examined from 2686 respondents who used cannabis in the past 12 months for nine cannabis product types.
On average, consumers report that 78% of all their cannabis came from legal sources in the past year. Differences in the self-reported price paid between legal and illegal purchases varied by product type. Price per unit was higher from legal sources for dried flower (+23.8%, p < 0.001), vapes (+18.7%, p = 0.006) and hash (+38.4%, p < 0.001), and lower for capsules (-28.4%, p = 0.008). No statistically significant difference was found for drops (-3.3%. p = 0.76), edibles (+3.9%, p = 0.49), cannabis drinks (-8.8%, p = 0.21), concentrates (+13.8%, p = 0.15) and tinctures (-17.0%, p = 0.28). Substantial quantity discounts for dried flower were observed from both legal and illegal sources.
Differences between legal and illegal cannabis prices have narrowed considerably, likely due to declines in the price of cannabis from legal stores since the opening of legal markets in Canada. Some differences are expected across the two markets considering differences in standard quantities purchased and the presence of quantity discounts in these markets. Analyses omitting purchase quantity may overestimate the price differential between legal and illegal sources.
大麻价格对合法化辩论中讨论的许多结果具有重要影响。本文报告了不同大麻产品的合法和非法价格。
作为国际大麻政策研究的一部分，于2022年和2023年对16至65岁的加拿大人进行了全国性调查。从过去12个月内使用过大麻的2686名受访者中，调查了他们“最后一次”购买大麻的自报价格、购买数量以及合法与非法来源，涉及九种大麻产品类型。
平均而言，消费者报告称，在过去一年中，他们所有大麻的78%来自合法来源。合法和非法购买的自报价格差异因产品类型而异。干花的合法来源单位价格更高（+23.8%，p<0.001），电子烟（+18.7%，p=0.006）和哈希（+38.4%，p<0.001），而胶囊的价格更低（-28.4%，p=0.008）。滴剂（-3.3%，p=0.76）、食用大麻制品（+3.9%，p=0.49）、大麻饮料（-8.8%，p=0.21）、浓缩物（+13.8%，p=0.15）和酊剂（-17.0%，p=0.28）未发现统计学上的显著差异。从合法和非法来源都观察到干花有大量的数量折扣。
合法和非法大麻价格之间的差异已大幅缩小，这可能是由于自加拿大合法市场开放以来，合法商店的大麻价格下降所致。考虑到两个市场购买标准数量的差异以及这些市场中数量折扣的存在，预计两个市场会存在一些差异。忽略购买数量的分析可能会高估合法和非法来源之间的价格差异。
