Statistics Canada says the average cost of a gram of cannabis from the illicit market continues to drop as legal prices rise — with authorized retailers charging as much as 80 per cent more.
The government agency says the average price of an illegal gram of pot was $5.93 in the second quarter, down from $6.23 in the previous quarter.
The cost of a legal gram of weed, however, was $10.65, up from $10.21 in the previous quarter and nearly 80 per cent more than the average price of illicit weed during the second quarter.
Statistics Canada based these conclusions on price quotes gathered using its StatsCannabis crowdsourcing application between April 1 and June 30, 572 of which were deemed plausible.
Overall, based on the voluntary submissions, the average price per gram of cannabis fell to $7.87 from $8.03 in the previous quarter, largely attributed to lower illegal prices.
The share of StatsCannabis respondents purchasing pot illegally rose to 59 per cent during the quarter, up from 55 per cent in the first quarter.
Statistics Canada urged caution when interpreting the data, as the quotes are self-submitted and the number of responses are limited.
The Canadian Press
