The Canadian government has moved to open up the cannabis more and more since Canada medical cannabis market was first legalized in 2001, and the country has a robust medical cannabis market. The Canadian government passed the Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulation (MMPR) in 2013 to revamp the outdated medical cannabis system. In April 2014, MMPR official replaced the previous Marijuana Medical Access Regulations. With the new law, Canada established a licensing program that allowed authorized producers to produce and market dried or fresh cannabis flower, and cannabis oil, to Canadians with the required medical documentation. The new law did provide guidelines for individuals to continue to grow cannabis for their own personal use and framework for transitioning providers from the old medical cannabis regulations to the new.

As of March 2024, there were 180,878 Canadians who were registered to purchase medical cannabis from licensed cannabis producers. About 93,000 were in Ontario, 27,000 in Alberta, 17,000 in Quebec, 11,000 in Nova Scotia and 11,000 in British Columbia. These Canadians receive their medical cannabis either through the post or through private couriers. Additionally, 15,726 Canadians are registered through Health Canada to produce a limited amount of cannabis for their own medical use.

Recent highlights

  • The number of medical client registrations with federally licensed sellers fell 2% from 183,909 in December 2023 to 180,878 in March 2024.
  • The number of individuals registered with Health Canada for personal and designated cultivation of cannabis for their own medical purposes increased 15% from 13,672 in December 2023 to 15,726 in March 2024.
  • The majority of the increase of 2,054 in registrations for personal/designated production is from three provinces: British Columbia with an increase of 696 registrations, Quebec with 671 and Ontario with 470.

Medical cannabis patients spent $224 million on cannabis in the second half of 2021, down from $294 million in the second half of 2020 and 29% lower than the record $316 million spent in the final six months of 2017, according to MJBizDaily. Canada’s medical cannabis market totaled $449 million in 2021-22 (April 1-March 31) and decreased to $409 million in 2022-23 and to $355 million in 2023-24.

Source: cannabusinessplans.ca.

Canada Medical Cannabis Market Infographics

Cannabis business plan templates for Canada are also available at cannabusinessplans.ca.

Canada Medical Cannabis Market