Cannabis vs alcohol in Canada
Two legal, age-restricted, province-controlled substances, but the numbers look very different. Here's how cannabis and alcohol compare on spending and use, straight from Statistics Canada and Health Canada. Free to cite, a link back to LeafNorth is appreciated.
This page compares the data, money and use, not the health effects. For health, see our cannabis and health hub. Last reviewed: July 2026.
Canadians still spend far more on alcohol
In the year from April 2024 to March 2025, Canadians bought $25.8 billion of alcohol and $5.5 billion of cannabis. That's about 4.7 times more spent on alcohol, six and a half years after cannabis was legalized, alcohol is still the far bigger market.
Source: Statistics Canada, Alcohol and cannabis sales in Canada, April 2024 to March 2025.
But the trends are moving in opposite directions
Cannabis sales grew 6.1% over the year, while alcohol sales fell 1.6%. The drinking numbers are sliding too: the average Canadian of legal age bought the equivalent of 8.0 standard drinks a week, down from 8.7 the year before. Cannabis is a much smaller market, but it's the one that's growing.
How widely each is used
Alcohol is used far more broadly: about 73% of Canadians drank in the past year (Canadian Alcohol and Drugs Survey, 2023). Cannabis is the second most-used substance, roughly a quarter of people aged 16+ used it in the past year (Canadian Cannabis Survey, 2024; see our cannabis statistics page).
Note: those two percentages come from different national surveys with different methods and age ranges, so read the gap as directional, not an exact head-to-head.
Same idea, different rules
Both are legal for adults, both are age-restricted, and both are controlled province by province, often through the very same government boards (many provinces run cannabis and liquor retail under one agency). The legal age is the same for both in most provinces (18 in Alberta, 21 in Quebec, 19 elsewhere).
Sources & notes
Every figure comes from the sources below. Sales figures are for the fiscal year April 2024 to March 2025. We update this page as new data is released; check the originals for the latest.
- Statistics Canada, Alcohol and cannabis sales in Canada, April 2024 to March 2025 Alcohol $25.8B (−1.6%), cannabis $5.5B (+6.1%), and 8.0 standard drinks per week (from 8.7).
- Health Canada, Canadian Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CADS) 2023 Past-year alcohol use of about 73%.
- Health Canada, Canadian Cannabis Survey 2024: Summary Past-year cannabis use of about a quarter of people 16+.
See the full cannabis picture
Legal sales, who uses it, and the shift to the legal market, all sourced.