Survey says: New Yorkers smoke the most
The Pacific Northwest is home to the most expensive and the cheapest price per gram, according to a global survey released by CFAH. The 2023 Cannabis Global Price Index looked beyond the United States, pulling cannabis data from 140 international cities. The study revealed the wide disparity of how much people pay per gram worldwide, and who smoked the most.
CFAH took gathering this information seriously. The publication figured out the countries that consumed the most and the least cannabis and found cities in those locations. From that pool, legality was assessed, and cities were chosen to give the most balanced comparison.
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Figures reflecting how much cannabis people consume in various places were taken from the World Health Organization (WHO). Price per gram was pulled from multiple locations, including city-level polls, The Price of Weed dashboard, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Historical data was also taken from the UNODC, with future-looking trajectories coming from the Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA).
There are limitations due to the nuance of the cannabis space at this time. For example, the quality of cannabis in different countries and cities varies widely and is not accounted for here. Even so, it’s a good bird’s eye view of where cannabis stands internationally and continentally at this moment.
According to this data, New Yorkers consume the most cannabis at 62.3 metric tons per year, followed by Sydney, Australia at 45.8 yearly metric tons. The plant is legal in New York and illegal in Sydney. The survey showed that legalizing cannabis could lead to more affordable pricing, with the price per gram in the United States projected to fall to $5.61 by 2030.
Worldwide, Tokyo weed costs the most, with a price per gram equating to $33.80, followed by Dublin, Ireland, where $22.50 for a gram is the average. As for the cheapest grams in the world? Those are at the jaw-dropping price of $5.90 in Montreal, Quebec.
The information showed that cities, where cannabis is legal, were 30 percent more likely to have cheaper grams. In fact, Canada holds five of the top 10 spots for the least expensive grams in the world.
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This was prevalent in US-focused data, which showed that the long-time legal city of Portland, Ore. has the cheapest American gram at $7. But the rule isn’t rigid. Oregon’s Northern neighbor Seattle has had legal access for just as long but also the second most expensive gram in the States.
Understanding how consumption levels and legality affect pricing is a valuable tool in identifying the impact of cannabis reform. This survey has shown the plant is often less expensive when it’s legalized.