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NWT cannabis sales last quarter highest to date, October report shows

Blair McBride
Cannabis. Pixabay photo
If retailers enter the cannabis sales market in Nunavut, it would be difficult for entrepreneurs to get established in small communities, unless community councils choose a local businessperson when there's competing applicants, says MLA John Main, chair of the regular members' caucus. Pixabay photo

NWT residents are buying more cannabis than ever, according to a new government report.

From July 1 to Sept. 30, NWT residents purchased $1.2 million worth of cannabis products, the NWT Liquor and Cannabis Commission (NTLCC) stated. That's the largest sum of sales since legalization.

About $714,000 worth of those transactions – more than half of the total – were in Yellowknife. The rest of the sales were at NWT liquor stores in Norman Wells, Hay River, Fort Smith and Fort Simpson and through the online shop which, at $3,676, had the lowest value of sales for the quarter.

The liquor store in Yellowknife's Stanton Plaza recorded $714,702 worth of cannabis sales in the July 1 to Sept. 30 period. NNSL file photo

Dried cannabis accounted for most of the sales, with cannabis extracts such as oils, capsules and edibles making up the remainder.

The previous quarter of April 1 to June 30 saw residents buy just over $1 million worth of cannabis products.

Momentum is also growing on the retail front after the GNWT invited submissions for pre-qualification screenings from prospective weed vendors in Inuvik, Norman Wells, Fort Simpson, Hay River and Fort Smith on Oct. 8 and 9.