Pubdate: Fri, 26 Jan 2018 Source: Metro (Edmonton, CN AB) Copyright: 2018 Metro Canada Contact: http://www.metronews.ca/Edmonton Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4475 Author: Kevin Maimann Page: A1 HOW MUCH FOR A GRAM OF WEED? StatsCan can tell you the answer to that Albertans are paying just under $8 a gram for marijuana on average, according to a new Statistics Canada report. The Cannabis Economic Report ranked average prices of medical and non-medical cannabis between provinces and found Alberta is slightly above the national average and the highest of the Prairies at $7.67. The national average is $7.48. Manitoba has the cheapest weed at $6.69 per gram, while the territories rank the highest at $9.58. The numbers are a combined average of medical and non-medical cannabis, with legally purchased medical cannabis generally costing a bit more. Prices have been steadily dropping over the years as supply has increased; in 2012, Albertans were paying $10 a gram. Researchers found the numbers using studies about the Canadian market, law-enforcement data and websites like priceofweed.com, said StatsCan economist Conrad Barber-Dueck. "We kind of scraped the Internet for prices," he said. The study found Canadians spent an estimated $5.7 billion on cannabis in 2017, compared to $22.3 billion on alcohol and $16 billion on tobacco products. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt