Canada’s cannabis retailers experienced record sales throughout 2021, but that market growth is showing signs of slowing down from its rapid pace.

The world’s second-largest cannabis market hauled in a whopping CA$3.9 billion in 2021 sales among its eight largest provinces that regularly report monthly figures, according to federal data agency Statistics Canada. That figure represents 50% year-over-year growth from 2020’s CA$2.6 billion in sales.

While Canada’s most populated province, Ontario, represented the country’s largest cannabis market with CA$1.47 billion in 2021 sales, the fourth-largest province by population, Alberta, came in second with CA$716.7 million in sales.

Following suit were Quebec, CA$601 million; British Columbia, CA$556.2 million; Saskatchewan, CA$158.3 million; Manitoba, CA$148.8 million; Nova Scotia, CA$95.5 million; New Brunswick, CA$80.4 million; and Newfoundland, CA$60.7 million.

Editor’s note: Prince Edward Island and Canada’s three territories (Yukon, Nunavut and Northwest Territories) did not regularly report monthly sales figures in 2021.

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The year was highlighted by eight straight months of growth from March through October, and then capped off with a record CA$382.4 million in sales for December.

While record retail months may continue, to some degree, 2021 trends indicate year-over-year growth is slowing. For instance, January 2021 sales increased 81.3% over January 2020 sales, but a steady decline progressed throughout the year to the point where December 2021 sales increased 28.5% over December 2020 sales.

Much of that early momentum in 2021 was perhaps connected to the tail-end revenue boosts from “Cannabis 2.0” rules. In late 2019, Canada’s adult-use retail market featured a host of new product options under the government’s new rules, which authorized the sales of derivative products, such as edibles, extracts and topicals.

The addition of those product offerings paved way for 2020’s 61% year-over-year growth, followed up by 2021’s 50% year-over-year growth.

But those record numbers from last year came during a time when cannabis retail prices declined across all product categories, including as much as 35% for some categories—cannabis concentrates and vape pens—according to market data from Seattle-based cannabis analytics firm Headset, which tracks data for Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

Headset senior data analyst Cooper Ashley previously told Cannabis Business Times that the record numbers were a result of consumer demand growing faster than prices fell.

“In fact, the large increase in total purchasing volume itself may have helped drive increased competition and price compression in the Canadian market,” he said.

As the Canadian cannabis market continues to mature, the supply-and-demand balance for the industry is still not up to par, Andrea Dobbs, co-founder and managing director at Village Bloomery, told CBT.

Opening in 2015, the Village Bloomery is a cannabis retail business in Vancouver, British Columbia, a province that experienced 50% year-over-year sales growth in 2021.

“In the unregulated market you can find what you want when you want it, but in the regulated market products are introduced and discontinued shortly thereafter,” Dobbs said. “We’ll put time and energy into educating people on the features and benefits of a product, which of course develops a following, only to turn around and discover that either the producers have decided to drop the product or the BCLDB [British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch] decides not to continue with it.”

One of BCLDB’s approaches to dismantling the unregulated market is through manipulating product pricing and THC content, which isn’t always in line with the business operations of licensed retailers, Dobbs said.

Specifically, the Village Bloomery customer base is more nuanced and less concerned with prices and/or THC content, she said.

“Sure, accessibility is a concern, especially those of us whose livelihood has been directly impacted by the global pandemic, but most of us work to keep the pricing as tight as possible because we recognize the market is fragile,” Dobbs said.

She added, “There are many products that are in high demand and those are often sold out in seconds on the wholesale site, which in my opinion demonstrates that there is demand for this kind of product.”

In addition to prices for vape pens and cannabis cartridges dropping by 35% from January to December 2021, topicals (-30%), capsules (-20%), pre-rolls (-19%), dried flower (-16%), tinctures and sublingual products (-16%), beverages (-12%), edibles (-11%) and oils (-11%) all declined in equivalized price as well, according to Headset.

While price compression is most often driven by competitive pressures within a market, Ashley said, diversifying pricing tiers with brands aimed at providing offerings that cater to customers with different spending habits is often the next trend in a maturing market.

One consumer trend Ashley said he analyzed in 2021 was the purchase of larger package sizes (more grams per package) within four product categories: The average item price of products in the pre-roll category grew by 6% from January to December, while capsules (4%), edibles (1%) and beverages (1%) also increased.

In British Columbia, Dobbs said there have been some efforts to put ordering limits in place to prevent certain products from selling out so quickly, but, in reality, there just simply isn’t enough supply to go around.

“Most of the products that are hard to keep in stock are not products that the BCLDB prioritizes for their own stores,” she said. “That said, I’m happy to see high-quality products in the marketplace, and I’m happy to see that folks who used to shop with us pre-regulation are back looking for these products.”

Although New Jersey voters approved adult-use cannabis via Question 1 in the November 2020 election, they still have no place to legally buy it.

Among the four states that passed adult-use measures in that election, Arizona launched sales on Jan. 22, 2021, Montana launched sales on Jan. 1, 2022, South Dakota had its ballot amendment struck down, and New Jersey has missed multiple deadlines geared toward launching its licensed retail program.

Most recently, the Garden State missed a self-imposed Feb. 22 deadline to open dispensaries. But there was no enforcement mechanism for that date, which was more of a symbolic target to get the ball (and the joints) rolling.

Last month, the executive director of the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC), Jeff Brown, said there were still a lot of moving parts associated with the deadline, adding there was no firm commitment to meet that target. 

RELATED: Is New Jersey Going to Miss Another Cannabis Deadline?

It wasn’t the first deadline New Jersey missed, symbolic or otherwise. The CRC was scheduled to begin accepting and processing business license applications on Sept. 18, 2021, but had to delay that effort too.

Despite missing this week’s retail launch, Gov. Phil Murphy offered optimism that the forthcoming program is “within weeks” of medical cannabis dispensaries transitioning to offer products to adult-use shoppers.

“If I had to predict, we are within weeks—I would hope in March—you would see implicit movement on the medical dispensaries, some of them being able to sell recreational,” Murphy said during his radio show on WBGO in Newark. “They’ve got to prove they’ve got the supply for their medical customers.”

As the CRC continues to review applications for licenses, Brown said one of the factors holding up the retail launch includes a lack of confirmation from local municipalities, where officials must provide in writing that they support the medical cannabis cultivators and dispensaries in their communities transitioning to the adult-use market, NJ.com reported.

There are 11 companies with 23 retail locations selling cannabis to the state’s 120,000-plus registered patients, according to CRC.

“It’s the priority of the CRC to get recreational sales started as soon as we can, but we have to do it in a way that’s compliant with the law,” Brown said during a meeting last month. “We need the industry to get there.”

Legislation to legalize adult-use cannabis lives to fight another day in one of the most conservative states in the country. 

The South Dakota Senate voted 18-17 on Feb. 23 to pass Senate Bill 3, which aims to legalize up to 1 ounce of cannabis for those 21 and older. An earlier version of the bill called for double that possession limit.

The legislation now heads to the House, where it has six Republican and two Democrat sponsors, but the lower chamber has been less receptive to adult-use reform. Earlier this week, the House rejected a separate measure that aimed to set up a tax structure and regulatory framework for a possible program. In addition, House Republicans have pushed for tighter restrictions on medical cannabis.

The legislative actions come as a result of Amendment A, a voter-approved ballot initiative to legalize adult use from November 2020, which passed with 54.2% majority, being struck down by a circuit court judge on the basis of the state’s single-subject rule. The South Dakota Supreme Court upheld that decision in November 2021.

RELATED: Seven Months Later, South Dakota Supreme Court Says ‘No’ to Adult-Use Cannabis Legalization

In addition to legalizing adult-use sales and possession, S.B. 3 aims to ban home cultivation, despite that proposal being approved by voters via Amendment A.

When S.B. 3 was going through the committee process earlier this month, Republican Sen. Michael Rohl, the bill’s primary sponsor, told Senate Commerce and Energy Committee members that the legislation steers toward enacting one of the more restrictive programs in the country, specifically mentioning the ban on home grows.

Rohl also told committee members that upholding the will of voters “is our complete responsibility.” He added, “The voters of South Dakota clearly expressed their will.”

All the meanwhile, the coalition responsible for putting Amendment A on the 2020 ballot, South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws (SDBML), has been working to collect the signatures needed for a 2022 ballot measure, in case S.B. 3 does not get enacted.

SDBML campaign director Matthew Schweich called Wednesday’s 18-17 Senate vote a success on social media.

He previously told Cannabis Business Times that SDBML would withdraw its initiative bid for the 2022 ballot should the South Dakota Legislature pass adult-use legislation and have that legislation enacted.

Should S.B. 3 clear the House, it would then face the opposition of Gov. Kristi Noem’s pen.

During a Feb. 23 press conference, the Republican governor was explicitly asked if she would veto S.B. 3 should it arrive on her desk.

“Well, it’s hard to talk in hypotheticals,” she said. “I’m not in favor of recreational marijuana. I still believe I haven’t seen anybody get smarter from smoking dope. So, we certainly have a medical program. I have supported medical marijuana for years. We’re in the process of standing up the best program in the country. And I appreciate the legislators for making some reforms to that program this session.”

Noem publicly campaigned against both South Dakota’s medical and adult-use ballot measures in 2020, and then supported a lawsuit that led to Amendment A being struck down last year