Comparing cannabis retail systems in Canada: government versus private

Abstract Purpose When it legalized recreational cannabis in 2018, Canada split jurisdiction between federal and provincial governments, allowing provinces to implement different retail regimes. Some provinces opted for competitive private retail markets, others for government dominated or monopoly retail, and other for a hybrid approach. Since federal legalization, provinces have experienced different degrees of success in displacing the illegal cannabis market, with those initially opting for private retail outperforming those that launched government monopoly retail. We compare prices, variety, and convenience between provinces using private competitive and government dominated retail systems to highlight potential drivers of differential success. Methods Data on price and variety from public retail websites was collected across two consecutive days in June 2024. Websites included for collection were the single website of each government retailer originally granted a monopoly and each location of 11 major private cannabis retailers operating multiple outlets in major urban centres of provinces using exclusively private retail. Data on the total number of retailers was collected from websites of the provincial government regulators. We then compared the systems to identify any differences between retail systems. Results We find there is no significant difference in price between retail systems, suggesting that average price is unlikely to be a driver of differences in success in displacing the illegal market. We do find that variety and convenience are significantly higher in competitive private retail systems, suggesting that these dimensions of competition should factor significantly into the plans of any jurisdiction considering the legalization of recreational cannabis.