| North Americans enjoy many freedoms, including the legal purchase of adult-use cannabis throughout all of Canada and much of the U.S., despite the federal illegality of the plant in the latter nation.
But citizens in those two countries took a bit of a breather from exercising that freedom on Canada Day (July 1) and Independence Day (July 4) to the extent of sales trends leading up to those national holidays this year.
Canada Day experienced a 23% decline in total cannabis sales across all Canadian provinces as compared to the previous four Fridays, according to Headset, a leading provider of data and analytics to the cannabis industry. Ontario, the most populated province with more than 14 million people, experienced the most significant decline with a 29% reduction in sales.
All product categories in Canada’s cannabis market realized declines as well, including vape pens (-27%), flower (-25%), oil (-22%) and concentrates (-19%), according to the data analytics firm.
In the U.S., meanwhile, state-legal cannabis retail markets experienced a 6.6% decline on the Fourth of July compared to the previous four Mondays, according to Headset. While capsules (-28%) and topicals (-17%) saw the biggest dips, the preroll category actually realized a 6% increase in sales.
As Fridays are typically the busiest day of the week for cannabis sales, and Mondays are often the slowest day of the week, many U.S. cannabis shoppers stocked up ahead of the July Fourth holiday.
In Massachusetts, for instance, adult-use retailers reported nearly $6.1 million in sales on Friday, July 1, representing a 16.1% increase compared to average sales from the previous four Fridays, according to data collected by Cannabis Business Times from the state’s Cannabis Control Commission.
Although Canada Day and Independence Day didn’t break any sales records, that’s perhaps because Canadians and Americans were too busy celebrating, including by using cannabis, which they purchased ahead of time.
-Tony Lange, Associate Editor | 
