Nunavik bucks national trend for purchasing cannabis

While a new Health Canada study says three-quarters of Canadians buy their cannabis from legal storefronts, it appears to be a different scenario in Nunavik.

There, 80 per cent of cannabis in the region is purchased illegally, according to Nunavik Police Service.

Earlier this month, the 2023 Canadian Cannabis Survey reported the number of users in Canada who rely on a legal outlet as their usual source of cannabis increased to 73 per cent in 2023.

That’s up from 37 per cent in 2019, the first full year that cannabis for non-medical use was legal in Canada.

Data pooled from 11,690 respondents across the country indicated legal storefronts have been the most common source to purchase cannabis since it was legalized.

However, in an interview Nunavik police Capt. Patrice Abel estimated more than 80 per cent of the cannabis in Nunavik gets purchased through an illegal source.

“We’ve gotten a lot of information coming to us about selling cannabis illegally everywhere in Nunavik,” he said.

That’s due in part to Quebec’s strict rules on who can legally sell cannabis.

The only way cannabis can be purchased legally is through the Société québécoise du cannabis, or SQDC, the provincially cannabis retailer, which offers in-store and online shopping. Cannabis purchased from outside the province is considered illegal.

With no storefronts in Nunavik, consumers in the region are limited to purchasing cannabis legally online.

But to do that, they must have a credit card — something many people in Nunavik don’t have, Abel said.

That drives people to use electronic money transfers to buy cannabis from retailers who allow that payment method outside of Quebec.

“They can buy by EMT, so it’s easier and faster for them, but for us it’s still illegal,” Abel said.

If the province were to start allowing payment methods other than credit cards for purchasing cannabis online, Abel said he expects the amount of illegally sourced cannabis in Nunavik would drop.

“It will probably help for sure, but it will not eliminate the problem,” he said.

Nunatsiaq News asked Health Canada for data specific to Nunavut and Nunavik on cannabis-purchasing habits.

A spokesperson from the department said they are unable to report findings solely from Nunavut due to the limited sample size in the individual territories.

Also, they aren’t able to separate findings in Nunavik geographically from the rest of Quebec. Findings from Nunavik were included in Quebec’s overall results.

The Government of Nunavut’s Finance Department is responsible for regulating privately owned retail sales in the territory through the Nunavut Liquor and Cannabis Commission.

The department doesn’t keep track of private cannabis sales from licensed online retailers who operate in the territory, a spokesperson said.

The Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services does collect data on cannabis usage in the region in the Nunavik Inuit Health Survey. However, the most recently published survey findings are from 2017, two years before cannabis for non-medical use became legal.

The Iqaluit dispensary, which is the sole storefront cannabis retailer in Nunavut, would not disclose data on in-store cannabis purchases.

The Nunavut RCMP did not share rates of illegally sourced cannabis in the territory.

While current data on cannabis use in the North is hazy, there may soon be a clearer picture.

A three-year study launched by a group of university researchers and health experts in 2021 is looking at local views and behaviours toward cannabis in the territories. Its findings may offer more insight into purchasing habits.

The study is expected to conclude later this year.