A Ontario Cannabis Store website pictured on a mobile phone Ottawa on October 18, 2018. Ontarians shelled out almost $20 million in the first three months products in Canada’s second wave of legalization were available for sale. Cannabis vapes, topicals, concentrates and edibles including gummies and chocolates only hit store shelves in January and beverages in March, but roughly $19.3 million worth of those products were sold in Ontario between April 2019 and March 2020.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
TORONTO – Ontarians shelled out almost $20 million in the first three months that edibles and other products in Canada’s second wave of legalization were available for sale — and experts believe that number will only grow.
Cannabis vapes, topicals, concentrates and edibles such as gummies and chocolates hit store shelves in January with beverages following in March, but roughly $19.3 million worth of those products were sold in Ontario in the 12 months ending at March 2020.
The province’s distributor, the Ontario Cannabis Store, said vapes were the most popular products in the second wave of legalization, known as Cannabis 2.0. About $14.8 million worth of vapes were sold in the first three months they were available.
Sales of edibles totalled $3.8 million, beverages reached $410,000, topicals hit $40,000 and concentrates amounted to $300,000 in the same period.
The data was revealed in a new report the OCS published this week to offer a glimpse at the country’s first full year of legal cannabis operations, which saw 35 tonnes or $385 million worth of cannabis sold during that time.
“Cannabis 2.0 products that launched into the market in Q4 sold very well, but similar to the launch of legalization, the offering from licensed producers was initially fairly narrow.” the report said.
“The data demonstrates consumer enthusiasm, but it will likely take some time for identifiable trends to emerge.”
Licensed producers spent much of the first few months of 2.0 slowly releasing edibles, vapes, topicals, beverages and concentrates.
Demand outpaced supply and several of the new products sold out within…
