Residents, municipalities and businesses across the country are gearing up for Oct. 17 when cannabis will officially become legal in Canada.
With each province taking a slightly different approach to how recreational legal cannabis will be sold, skeptics have cautioned that sales may be less than previously expected.
However, Statistics Canada has released a report that forecasts legal cannabis sales surpassing $1-billion between October and December of this year.
The agency estimates 5.4 million will purchase legal cannabis products during the fourth quarter of 2018, where profits could range between $816 million and $1.02 billion.
It added that purchases of illicit cannabis during the same period could be between $254 million and $317 million, or 24% of the total market.
To forecast the numbers, Statistics Canada sourced census data, the National Cannabis Survey and an online questionnaire.
With files from the Canadian Press.
