With the prospective legalization of cannabis, Statistics Canada is beginning to preparing Canada’s statistical system to capture the associated economic and social implications.

Once cannabis is legalized, the majority of the production, sale and use of cannabis will move from “underground” to “above ground” making it easier to capture and report. Statistics Canada is preparing the current statistical system to be able to capture the economic and social activities related to the non-medical use of cannabis.

Current plans are to use the framework of the System to National Accounts to:

• Create a Cannabis economic account by extending the current production and consumption boundaries of the System of National Accounts to include the currently illegal production, sale and consumption of cannabis.
• Expand the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) to include a cannabis greenhouse industry along side the present vegetable greenhouse industry.
• The cannabis economic account will use a provisional set of industry, product and expenditure classifications to categorize the production and consumption activities of both medical and non-medical cannabis producers.

The framwork:

• New Industry classification - Cannabis industry
  • Medical cannabis industry
  • Non-medical cannabis industry
• New Product classification - Cannabis products
  • Dried cannabis
  • Cannabis oil
  • Fresh cannabis
  • Cannabis plants and seeds
  • Other cannabis products
•  New Expenditure classification - Household expenditure on cannabis
  • Household expenditure on medical cannabis
  • Household expenditure on non-medical cannabis

 For more information, click on the link below.

Source: A cannabis economic account – The framework