Regulated markets: cannabis, vaping and psilocybin
This page covers three markets that are legal only under licence: cannabis, nicotine vaping and psilocybin. For each one it sets out the legal status, who holds licences, how big the legal market is, how much is still illicit where a government or research estimate exists, and which jobs need a permit or training. The main point is that legal status does not mean the legal market has won. Seven years after legalisation, about 29% of Canadian non-medical cannabis spending is still unlicensed. A study commissioned by California's regulator puts the illicit share there at about 60%. Only 48 e-cigarettes are authorised for sale in the US, and none of the four brands most used by US youth is among them. Psilocybin is legal only as a supervised service in Oregon and Colorado, and it remains a small market.
37 sources · 46 tier A · 8 tier C · 4 tier B · 3 unverified · prepared 2026-09-21
01
Cannabis in Canada
Non-medical cannabis has been legal since October 2018. Health Canada licenses production, and the provinces decide who sells it. The legal share of consumer spending has risen every year but has levelled off at around 70%.
| Active federal licensed sites (Dec 31, 2025) 397 standard, 484 micro, 16 nursery and 18 medical-sale-only. Standard and micro licences cover both cultivation and processing. |
915A |
| Inactive federal licences on record 403 revoked at the holder's request, 60 expired and 29 revoked by the Minister. This counts every licence since 2013. |
492A |
| Provinces with the most active sites | Ontario 268; BC 237; Quebec 207; Alberta 81A |
| Licensed growing area | 1.41M m² indoor; 689 ha outdoor; 338K m² processingA |
| Household spending, licensed non-medical (2025) Nominal, sum of 4 quarters. The figure for 2019 was C$1.31B. |
C$6.32BA |
| Household spending, unlicensed (2025) Statistics Canada's own estimate. It was C$4.98B in 2018. |
C$2.61BA |
| Household spending, medical cannabis (2025) | C$0.47BA |
| Retail models Health Canada page last updated 2022. Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador have private stores, with online sales run by the government. |
Government-run only in QC, NB, NS, PEI, NT; private only in AB, MB, SK, YT, NU; mixed in BC, ON, NLA |
| Minimum age | 18 in AB; 21 in QC; 19 elsewhereA |
| Jobs supported by legal cannabis (2024) Input-output model by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Business Data Lab, commissioned by a producer (Organigram). The model estimates GDP of C$16B. |
~227,000 total; 168,034 directC |
02
Cannabis in the United States
Most states allow cannabis, but federal law has only partly moved. In April 2026, state-licensed medical cannabis moved to Schedule III. Adult-use cannabis is still Schedule I while DEA completes a rulemaking.
| States with comprehensive medical cannabis NCSL count as of June 26, 2025. NCSL's table has since added laws in Georgia (2026) and Texas (2025), so this count may be out of date. |
41 states + DC + 3 territoriesB |
| States with legal adult-use cannabis NCSL, as of June 26, 2025 |
24 states + DC + 3 territoriesB |
| Federal status: FDA-approved and state-licensed medical cannabis Final order by the Acting Attorney General (announced April 23, 2026). It also creates an expedited DEA registration route for state medical licence holders. |
Schedule III, effective April 28, 2026A |
| Federal status: all other cannabis, including adult-use The May 2024 proposal to move cannabis to Schedule III is still pending |
Still Schedule IA |
| Rescheduling hearing DEA withdrew the 2024 hearing notice and issued a new one under Executive Order 14370 |
Restarted April 28, 2026; held June 29 to July 15, 2026A |
| Stage as of Sept 2026 Post-hearing briefs were due Aug 17, 2026. We found no published recommendation or final rule as of this writing. |
Awaiting the ALJ's recommendation, then DEA's final ruleC |
| California reported cannabis sales CDTFA 'CannabisSales' field, sum of quarters. H1 2026: $1.98B. |
$4.45B (2023); $4.21B (2024); $3.93B (2025)A |
| California cannabis tax revenue (2025) Excise and sales tax. The peak was $1.36B in 2021. |
$1.06BA |
| Colorado medical + retail sales Jan to Jun 2026: $630M. Cumulative since 2014: $18.8B. |
$2.23B (2021 peak); $1.40B (2024); $1.32B (2025)A |
| California active cannabis licences From a study commissioned by the Department of Cannabis Control, as reported in trade press |
1,544 (Sept 2022) to 1,584 (Oct 2024)C |
| US national legal retail sales (2025) The first year-over-year decline since 2014, according to Whitney Economics |
$29.1BC |
03
Vaping
Both countries allow nicotine vapes under product rules. In the US, only FDA-authorised products may be sold legally, and very few are authorised. Many provinces restrict flavours.
| Canada: federal law Its regulations cover promotion, labelling, packaging and sales and ingredient reporting |
Tobacco and Vaping Products ActA |
| Canada: nicotine cap Nicotine Concentration in Vaping Products Regulations, SOR/2021-123 |
20 mg/mLA |
| Canada: federal vaping duty Specified provinces add a matching duty, and revenue is split 50/50 with the federal government |
$1.12 per 2 mL for the first 10 mL, then $1.12 per 10 mLA |
| Provinces in the coordinated vaping duty Nova Scotia joined Feb 26, 2026, and its added duty took effect April 1, 2026 |
AB, MB, NB, NT, NU, ON, PE, QC, YT + NSA |
| Nova Scotia flavour ban | Flavoured e-cigarettes and juices banned from April 1, 2020A |
| Quebec flavour ban The same rules capped tank size and nicotine and banned toy-like designs |
Only tobacco-flavoured or unflavoured vapes may be sold from Oct 31, 2023B |
| Canada youth vaping (grades 7–12, 2023–24) Largely unchanged since 2018–19. Use of nicotine-free vapes fell from 11% to 4%. |
15% past-30-day any vape; 14% with nicotineA |
| US: FDA-authorised e-cigarettes From Glas, JUUL, Logic, NJOY and Vuse, as of Aug 28, 2026. FDA calls these 'the only e-cigarettes that may be lawfully sold' in the US. |
48 productsA |
| US: first non-tobacco, non-menthol authorisation | May 5, 2026 (Glas pods)A |
| US: youth e-cigarette use (NYTS 2025) 7.1% of high school students. Of youth users, 66.3% use disposables. |
5.2% of middle and high schoolers (1.44M)A |
| US: brands youth use most (NYTS 2025) None of the four is on FDA's authorised list (s23) |
Geek Bar 64.1%, Elf Bar 21.5%, Lost Mary 19.8%, Raz 19.5%A |
| US: CBP 'Operation Red Mist' seizure Mainly maritime cargo from China. None of the seized products had FDA authorisation. |
18M+ units, $175M+ (announced May 13, 2026)A |
| US: Chicago joint seizure FDA called it the largest-ever seizure at the time. Almost all of it came from China. |
4.7M units, $86.5M (Sept 10, 2025)A |
04
Psilocybin
Psilocybin is still Schedule I under US federal law. Two states allow it as a supervised service at a licensed centre, not as a retail product. In Canada it remains illegal outside narrow federal authorisations.
| Oregon: programme start Ballot Measure 109 (2020), ORS 475A. Clients must be 21 or older and need no prescription or Oregon residency. |
Applications opened Jan 2, 2023; centres opened summer 2023A |
| Oregon: licences approved during 2025 These are approvals during the year, not a count of active licences |
377 facilitator; 25 service centre; 11 manufacturer; 1 lab; 197 worker permitsA |
| Oregon: clients served (2025) 4,628 individual and 747 group sessions; 18,877 products sold |
5,935A |
| Oregon: enforcement (2025) | 51 complaints; 22 final orders (18 civil penalties, 4 revocations)A |
| Oregon: market condition Trade press, Sept 2026. The report also says OHA has proposed doubling licence fees. |
Roughly a third to half of service centres have closed; sessions cost ~$850–$3,000C |
| Colorado: programme start The supply chain was complete on May 27, 2025, when the first testing lab was certified |
Applications opened Dec 31, 2024; first sessions June 2025A |
| Colorado: approved licences (Sept 18, 2026) Also 126 owner and 201 handler licences. Facilitators are licensed separately by DORA. |
46 healing centres (11 standard, 35 micro); 14 cultivation; 8 manufacturers; 1 labA |
| Canada: legal status Health Canada: 'The production, sale and possession of magic mushrooms are illegal in Canada' |
Illegal; listed in CDSA Schedule IIIA |
| Canada: lawful routes | Clinical trials, the Special Access Programme, or an individual s.56(1) exemptionA |
| Canada: Special Access Programme Restored January 2022. Health Canada notice on psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy dated Feb 27, 2023. |
A practitioner may request access when conventional treatment has failed or is unsuitableA |
05
Legal versus illicit share
Only these estimates come from a government or a major research source. None exists for psilocybin, and none exists for vaping in either country.
| Canada: licensed share of non-medical cannabis spending Calculated as licensed ÷ (licensed + unlicensed) household spending, in nominal dollars |
3% (2018); 24% (2019); 47% (2020); 60% (2021); 67% (2023); 71% (2025)A |
| Canada: legal share including medical (2025) H1 2026: 72.8% |
72%A |
| California: illicit share of consumption Study commissioned by the Department of Cannabis Control, as reported in trade press. We could not open the study itself. It estimates illicit output at 7M–16.3M lb against 1.4M lb of legal output. |
~60% (2024)C |
| US vaping: legal share The FDA youth survey shows that the most-used brands are unauthorised (see Vaping) |
No official estimateUNVERIFIED |
| Psilocybin: legal share (OR, CO, Canada) | No official estimateUNVERIFIED |
06
Jobs and worker licensing
Most jobs are ordinary farm, factory and retail roles with an added layer of screening or training. Psilocybin facilitation is the one role that is a licensed occupation in its own right.
| Budtender / cannabis retail associate NOC 6410 596,285 employed in Canada Ontario also has a separate Retail Manager Licence |
Ontario requires AGCO-approved training before the first shiftA |
| Cannabis store manager NOC 6002 374,685 employed in Canada |
AGCO Retail Manager Licence (Ontario)A |
| Master grower (Canada) NOC 8203 23,100 employed in Canada Cannabis Regulations s.50(g) |
Must hold a Health Canada security clearanceA |
| Head of security; quality assurance person; responsible person Also required for directors, officers and controlling owners of licence holders (s.50) |
Security clearance requiredA |
| Cultivation and trim workers NOC 8510 55,975 employed in Canada Section 50 lists only the key roles above |
No federal clearance required for line staffA |
| Oregon psilocybin facilitator: requirements The 2-year Oregon residency rule ended Jan 1, 2025. No college degree may be required. |
Age 21+, high school diploma, approved training, pass OHA exam, annual renewalA |
| Oregon facilitator training Includes 20 hours on administration and 16 on core facilitation skills |
At least 120 hours of core instructionB |
| Oregon psilocybin worker permits issued (2025) For staff at service centres and manufacturers |
197A |
| Colorado natural medicine handler licences | 201 (Sept 18, 2026)A |
| US legal cannabis employment (early 2026) A staffing firm and consultancy estimate. It fell 2.7% as prices dropped. |
412,500C |
| Canada cannabis direct employment (2024) Commissioned model (see the Canada section); there is no Statistics Canada headcount |
168,034C |
| Vape shop sales staff NOC 6410 596,285 employed in Canada |
No worker licence found; the rules fall on the retailerUNVERIFIED |
?
Looked for and not found
Claims this page would have made if a source could be opened. They are left out rather than guessed.
- Statistics Canada does not publish a headcount of cannabis industry employment that we could find. The only Canadian job figure comes from a model commissioned by a producer (tier C).
- Health Canada's list of licensed cultivators, processors and sellers could not be downloaded directly (canada.ca blocks scripted access). Counts come from the open-data file dated Dec 31, 2025 instead.
- Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency sales statistics and Illinois IDFPR sales reports returned 403 or 404 errors, so the US state sales rows cover only California and Colorado.
- We found no DEA or DOJ document dated after July 2026 on the adult-use rescheduling. Whether the ALJ has issued a recommendation by late September 2026 is unconfirmed.
- The NCSL state counts are dated June 26, 2025. We did not confirm whether any state has legalised adult-use cannabis since then.
- We could not open the California DCC-commissioned study that estimates a 60% illicit share. The figure is cited from trade press.
- No government estimate of the illicit share of the vaping market in Canada or the US was found. The same applies to unregulated psilocybin sales in Oregon, Colorado or Canada, including the storefront 'mushroom dispensaries' in Canadian cities.
- We did not find Health Canada counts of Special Access Programme authorisations or s.56 exemptions granted for psilocybin.
- We did not find the number of Colorado facilitator licences issued by DORA, or Colorado's training-hour requirement, on a page we could open.
- Health Canada's page on provincial retail models was last updated in October 2022, so later changes to provincial models may be missing.
- We did not search for Canada's proposed federal restriction on vaping flavours (2021) or its current status.
§
Sources
- Commercial Cannabis Licence Applications and Licences, File 4: Active and Inactive Licence Holder Information as of 12-31-2025 — Health Canada (Open Government Portal), 2026-08A
- Cannabis market data — Health Canada, 2026-07A
- Table 36-10-0124-01: Detailed household final consumption expenditure, quarterly (cannabis licensed, unlicensed and medical) — Statistics Canada, 2026-08A
- Cannabis in the provinces and territories — Health Canada, 2022-10A
- Report: Canadian cannabis sector contributes $16 billion to GDP, supports over 227,000 jobs in 2024 (on the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Business Data Lab report commissioned by Organigram) — StratCann, 2025-09C
- Cannabis Regulations (SOR/2018-144), section 50: Requirement for security clearance — Government of Canada, Justice Laws, 2026A
- Training for cannabis retail store staff — Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, 2026A
- State Medical Cannabis Laws — National Conference of State Legislatures, 2026B
- Schedules of Controlled Substances: Rescheduling of FDA Approved Products Containing Marijuana From Schedule I to Schedule III (final rule, FR Doc 2026-08176) — Department of Justice / DEA, Federal Register, 2026-04A
- Schedules of Controlled Substances: Rescheduling of Marijuana (notice of hearing, FR Doc 2026-08177) and Withdrawal (FR Doc 2026-08178) — DEA, Federal Register, 2026-04A
- Justice Department Places FDA-Approved Marijuana Products and Products Containing Marijuana Subject to a Qualifying State-issued License in Schedule III — U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, 2026-04A
- DEA Cannabis Rescheduling: Post-Hearing Briefs Due August 17, 2026 — Cogent Law, 2026-07C
- Cannabis Tax Revenues (open data, reported cannabis sales and taxes by quarter) — California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, 2026A
- Marijuana Sales Reports — Colorado Department of Revenue, 2026A
- California's legal cannabis market achieves marginal growth in the face of a dominant illicit market (on a Department of Cannabis Control-commissioned study) — Business of Cannabis, 2025-03C
- The 2026 U.S. Cannabis Jobs Report (with Whitney Economics) — Vangst, 2026-06C
- Vaping products: product safety and regulation — Health Canada, 2024-06A
- Calculating the vaping duty — Government of Canada, 2026A
- EDN107: Additional specified vaping province effective February 26, 2026 — Canada Revenue Agency, 2026-02A
- Province Bans Sales of Flavoured E-Cigarettes, Commits to Legislation — Government of Nova Scotia, 2019-12A
- Quebec's ban on sale of flavoured vapes is now in effect — Global News, 2023-10B
- Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey 2023-24: key findings — Health Canada, 2025-06A
- E-Cigarettes, Vapes and Other ENDS Authorized by the FDA — U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2026-08A
- FDA Expands Market Access, Authorizes New ENDS Products — U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2026-05A
- Operation Red Mist: CBP, federal partners seize millions of illegal e-cigarettes in maritime cargo — U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 2026-05A
- HHS, CBP Seize $86.5 Million Worth of Illegal E-Cigarettes in Largest-Ever Operation — U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2025-09A
- Results from the Annual National Youth Tobacco Survey (2025 findings) — U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2026A
- Oregon Psilocybin Services 2025 Year-End Data Summary — Oregon Health Authority, 2026A
- Oregon Psilocybin Services fact sheet — Oregon Health Authority, 2024-03A
- ORS 475A.325: Psilocybin service facilitator license — Oregon State Legislature, 2025A
- Or. Admin. Code 333-333-3050: Psilocybin Training Program Core Requirements — Legal Information Institute, Cornell (copy of Oregon rule), 2026B
- Psilocybin therapy's first market is struggling to survive: Oregon's service centers are closing faster than they open — Acuity, 2026-09C
- Natural Medicine Division (home page, approved licences as of 9-18-26) — Colorado Department of Revenue, 2026-09A
- 2025 DOR Annual Natural Medicine Report — Colorado Department of Revenue, 2026-02A
- Psilocybin and psilocin (magic mushrooms) — Health Canada, 2025-10A
- Notice to stakeholders: Requests to the Special Access Program involving psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy — Health Canada, 2023-02A
- Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, Schedule III — Government of Canada, Justice Laws, 2026A