Quebec Cannabis Regulations

Quebec’s legislation initially launched 20 government-run cannabis stores. As of August 2024, Quebec had 100 Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) stores open across the province.

There are still opportunities for:

• Micro-cultivation license holders, who could be licensed for the same activities as standard cultivators, but on a smaller scale.
• Nursery license holders, who could be permitted to produce seeds and seedlings, including clones, for sale to other licensed producers and researchers.
• Micro-processing license holders could produce cannabis oil for sale to other LPs and researchers.
• The same license will also allow for packaging and labelling product sales to the public.

The province has major advantages for local cultivators, including low costs for electricity, water, land and highly trained people, as well as Quebecers preference for locally-made goods.

As of December 2024, there were 210 cannabis producers licensed to operate in Quebec including Aurora Cannabis Enterprises, QC Gold Tech Inc., Agri-Médic ASP, IsoCanMed and Vert Cannabis.

Quebec Cannabis Market Stats

Quebec’s cannabis agency generated about $254 million of sales in 2019 and $496 million in 2020.

Data collected by Statistics Canada show that retail sales in Quebec reached $33.5 million in December 2019, then increased to about $50 million in December 2020 and to over $55 million in December 2021.

Total sales in 2021 reached over $600 million, which amounted to about 15% of the legal cannabis consumed in Canada. 2022 and 2023 brought in $586.4 million and $616.2 million correspondingly, and in 2024, sales were $694.2 million, peaking in July at $64.8 million.

The province’s stores have combined to sell more than $3.2 billion worth of legal cannabis since October 17, 2018.

Quebec Cannabis Market Infographics