Canadians were spending more on legal than illegal cannabis products by the third quarter of 2020, with the amount spent in the black market having dropped by nearly half since immediately prior to legalization. In response to Statistics Canada's 2021 Canadian Cannabis Survey, 64% of cannabis users reported that they usually purchased cannabis from a legal storefront or online store, up from 54% in 2020 and 37% in 2019. Craft cannabis Under the Cannabis Act passed in 2018, only producers licensed by the government are allowed to grow the product. As of early October 2018, there were at least 117 such licensed producers. Although consolidation of the cannabis market in Canada is expected to the point where "a handful of companies will control the majority of the market", many claim that there is an important need for smaller craft cannabis producers that are "more able to adapt to consumer demand". The craft cannabis industry has been compared to the craft beer industry – smaller producers who are able to experiment more and provide a wider variety to the larger companies, which will likely try to please as many consumers as possible. However, the difference is that the relatively new rise of craft brewers in a mature market is different than craft cannabis starting at the same time as larger producers (for recreational cannabis). This will give larger producers the edge in the short term since those companies have more money. The expected buy-in for craft cannabis producers is perhaps slightly higher than craft brewers, but there are other barriers to launching a craft cannabis company including the ability to market product. Cannabis marketing will be closer to tobacco marketing (which is prohibited in Canada with few limited exceptions) cannabis will be sold in plain packaging and traditional advertising such as TV commercials will be prohibited. They will likely not even be able to mention things that could be important to the consumer such as where it's grown (i.e., "buy local") and if it's organic. Further, simply selling their product may be difficult. The supply chain is still not entirely clear as it is in the beer industry, but there are ways for craft cannabis producers to sell their product through selling to other micro-processors – and potentially larger producers – or applying for a micro-processing licence themselves. As of the legalization date, consumers cannot sample or purchase product directly from