Canada

Data Dive: Canadian Medical Marijuana Patient Total Tops 200,000

Published on October 23, 2017 · Last updated July 28, 2020
Aerial photo of Vancouver, BC, Canada on a partly cloudy day in the evening light.

Canada’s medical marijuana industry continues to grow at steady rate, according to the most recent data released by Health Canada.

Several things stand out from the market report, but probably most notable is the number of medical patients topping 200,000. The majority of patients reside in Ontario and Alberta; Ontario contains 86,000 patients, and Alberta had 74,000  as of the end of this past June.

Province April Total PatientsMay Total PatientsJune Total Patients
Alberta60,47968,05574,013
British Columbia7,4547,7568,103
Manitoba2,9873,3253,598
New Brunswick5,2845,5115,748
Newfoundland and Labrador1,8532,0272,162
Northwest Territories112123125
Nova Scotia7,6858,0878,737
Nunavut474546
Ontario77,69281,52286,196
Prince Edward Island739782831
Quebec5,1495,3305,630
Saskatchewan4,9375,5356,108
Yukon85102101

One surprising figure: the low patient total in British Columbia. BC and Alberta are roughly comparable in population (3.8 million and 3.2 million, respectively), but Alberta has about nine times as many medical marijuana patients registered with Health Canada.

Province Adult Population (18+)Number of PatientsPatients Per 1,000 Adults
British Columbia3,867,5208,1032.10
Alberta3,288,45074,01322.51
Saskatchewan883,7806,1086.91
Manitoba1,018,6303,5983.53
Ontario11,194,98086,1967.70
Quebec6,698,9005,6300.84
Newfoundland433,8702,1624.98
New Brunswick616,4905,7489.32
Prince Edward Island119,4708316.95
Nova Scotia 778,0208,73711.23

Yukon29,4901013.42
Northwest Territories32,9001253.80
Nunavut28,800461.60

The agency’s data also tracks the amount of cannabis sold to patients in the first quarter of the 2017-18 fiscal year. In those three months, April-June, there was steady growth in cannabis sold, cannabis released for sale, as well as the amount of cannabis inventories at licensed producer’s facilities.

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Gage Peake
Gage Peake
Gage Peake is a former staff writer for Leafly, where he specialized in data journalism, sports, and breaking news coverage. He's a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's College of Journalism and Mass Communications.
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