Prince Edward Island Cannabis Market Analysis: Five Stores, Capture Near Alberta's
Prince Edward Island runs a government monopoly: the PEI Cannabis Management Corporation (PEICMC) is the province's sole adult-use retailer, selling through five stores and an online site. In fiscal 2025-26 (year ended March 31, 2026) it reported $28.8 million in sales before sales tax and 7,050 kg of dried cannabis equivalent (DFE), roughly 72% of this analysis's modeled demand baseline. That is about the same as Alberta's and roughly twice the 33% to 36% of New Brunswick, Quebec and Nova Scotia, on 3.4 stores per 100,000 adults, the second lowest of the seven provinces compared after Quebec's 1.6. The figure counts every legal purchase in the province, including visitors', which the report doesn't separate. Volume rose 21.4% while sales rose 9.0%.
Market Overview
PEICMC is a Crown corporation responsible for the distribution and sale of adult-use cannabis in the province, operating under the Cannabis Management Corporation Act, which was proclaimed on August 20, 2018. It describes itself as the sole adult-use retailer, with stores in Charlottetown, Summerside, Stratford, Montague and O'Leary, and online sales with home delivery. The legal age is 19, and a household may grow up to four plants.
Current State
PEICMC's 2025-26 annual report shows fiscal 2025-26 sales of $28.8 million, up 9.0% from $26.4 million, and net income of $2.6 million, all of it distributed to the province. Volume rose 21.4%, from 5,806 kg to 7,050 kg DFE, which was 113.7% of PEICMC's 6,200 kg target, while sales reached 98.1% of their $29.3 million target. The report gives no DFE breakdown by category. It describes "substantial growth in the volume of total dried cannabis equivalency of products sold" in the same passage that notes the introduction of vapes in November 2025, but doesn't say how much of the 1,244 kg increase vapes account for. By net receipts, dried flower was 34.0%, pre-rolls 24.1%, infused pre-rolls 12.0% and vapes 6.3%, and the average SKU assortment fell from 657 to 550.
The five stores produced 99.6% of sales: Charlottetown 43.9%, Summerside 24.9%, Stratford 13.3%, Montague 11.9% and O'Leary 5.7%. Online sales were 0.35%, or $99,538, and the Cannabis Expo accounted for 0.06%. Customer counts rose 5.1% to 724,170, and sales of products from PEI licensed producers rose 30.2% to nearly $8.2 million, roughly 28% of PEICMC's sales.
Total Addressable Market and Capture
Prince Edward Island's population was 181,594 on July 1, 2025, revised down from 182,657 in the province's September 2026 population report, with a legal purchase age of 19. That report gives ages only for July 1, 2026, and publishes 15 to 19 as a single band: 25,216 of 182,989 residents were 0 to 14 and 10,220 were 15 to 19. Counting one-fifth of that band as 19-year-olds, an approximation, puts about 81.8% of residents at 19 or older. Applying that share to the 2025 total gives roughly 148,500 adults, and each point of difference in the share moves capture by about 0.9 point. At this framework's standard 18% participation and 1.0 g/day assumptions, modeled annual demand comes to roughly 9,750 kg.
PEICMC's 7,050 kg works out to roughly 72% of modeled demand and 38.8 grams per resident. The prior year's 5,806 kg equals about 60% of the same baseline, so capture rose about 13 points. The earlier, higher 2025 population of 182,657 also gives about 72%. As in the other provinces in this series, legal home cultivation and the federal medical channel sit outside PEICMC's volume, so the ratio understates total legal supply.
The framework models residents, while PEICMC's volume includes everyone who buys in its stores. The province reported 1.87 million non-resident visitors in 2025, 10% more than in 2024, and PEICMC doesn't separate their purchases from residents'. Its monthly customer counts were highest in August (67,399) and July (66,561) and lowest in February (52,787), and July and August together were 18.5% of the year's customers against 17.0% of its days. That is consistent with a seasonal component, but customer counts can't be converted into volume or split between residents and visitors, so some part of the 72% may reflect visitors, and its size can't be estimated from published data.
Store density is 3.4 stores per 100,000 adults at year-end (five stores, with online sales a further 0.35% of the total).
Price
PEICMC doesn't report an average price per gram. Sales divided by DFE kilograms gives $4.09 per reported gram, down 10.2% from $4.55 in 2024-25. The audited statements state that revenue is exclusive of sales tax, and PEICMC's sales line excludes its other revenues, such as marketing fees. Sales include accessories, 0.37% of net receipts, that carry no DFE volume, so this is a rough ratio.
Volume rose 21.4% while sales rose 9.0%. The report doesn't say whether that reflects lower prices, a shift toward products with a higher dried-equivalent conversion, or both. PEICMC's own targets show the same gap: its 2025-26 targets of $29.3 million and 6,200 kg imply $4.73 per gram, while its 2026-27 targets of $31.4 million and 7,685 kg imply $4.08.
SQDC's 2025-26 sales work out to $4.90 per gram before tax, so PEICMC's $4.09 is about 17% lower, and about a third below New Brunswick's $6.05 and Nova Scotia's roughly $6.39, which uses forecast sales over forecast volume. Product mix and kilogram conversion differ across all four, so these are differences in revenue per reported gram, not like-for-like prices.
Enforcement
PEICMC's report acknowledges "a well-established and sophisticated illicit cannabis market" and says it benefits from lower operating costs, but it doesn't size that market, and this analysis doesn't either. The RCMP reported that it searched an unregulated cannabis store in Scotchfort on September 11, 2025, seizing 143 items including over 6.5 kg of bulk dried cannabis, and that two people were charged with eight offences each under federal and provincial law, including operating a store that sells cannabis under the Cannabis Control Act. A second release describes a search warrant executed by the Provincial Joint Enforcement Team at a business in Scotchfort on October 14, 2025; the person arrested, charged with possession for the purpose of distribution, is one of the two people charged in the September case. The releases don't link either operation to PEICMC's sales.
The Comparison That Matters
| Market | Model | Reporting period | Legal age | Sales per gram, before tax (CAD)* | Grams per resident | Framework capture | Stores per 100k adults (year-end)† |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Brunswick | Public stores + authorized private retail | FY2025-26 | 19 | $6.05 | 17.6 | ~33% | 6.2 |
| Quebec | Government monopoly | FY2025-26 | 21 | $4.90 | 18.3 | ~35.5% | 1.6 |
| Nova Scotia | Government monopoly | FY2025-26 (forecast volume) | 19 | ~$6.39 | 19.6 | ~36% | 9.3 |
| Ontario | Private retail + govt online | Calendar 2025 | 19 | N/A | 27.2 | ~51% | 13.5 |
| BC | Public + private retail | FY2025-26 | 19 | N/A | 28.1 | ~51.5% | 11.8 |
| Alberta | Private retail | FY2024-25 | 18 | N/A | 36.6 | ~72% | 18.5 |
| Prince Edward Island | Government monopoly | FY2025-26 | 19 | $4.09 | 38.8 | ~72% | 3.4 |
*Sales divided by reported kilograms (Nova Scotia: forecast sales over forecast kilograms; New Brunswick: net sales after discounts, with HST assumed excluded because CNB doesn't state its treatment; Prince Edward Island: sales per the audited statements); Quebec, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island figures exclude sales tax. Volume bases differ: wholesale distribution (Alberta, BC), authorized-store sales (Ontario), retailer volume (Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island). †New Brunswick counts 44 corporate and private stores at year-end; including eight Farmgate outlets it is 7.3. Prince Edward Island's volume includes purchases by visitors.
On this framework and the reporting periods shown, Prince Edward Island's capture of about 72% matches Alberta's, is roughly twice the 33% to 36% of New Brunswick, Quebec and Nova Scotia, and is about 21 points above Ontario and BC. By density it is second lowest of the seven, at 3.4. Density therefore doesn't order capture across the seven: the two provinces near 72% have 3.4 and 18.5 stores per 100,000 adults, while the three near 33% to 36% span 1.6 to 9.3. Legal age, price, product mix, reporting period and, in Prince Edward Island's case, visitor purchases differ too, so the comparison can't isolate what causes the pattern.
The Bottom Line
Prince Edward Island's legal channel moved roughly 72% of modeled demand through five stores, matching Alberta's capture at under a fifth of its store density. Within the year, volume rose 21.4% and capture rose about 13 points on a fixed adult count, while sales rose 9.0% and revenue per reported gram fell 10.2%. Two things limit how far the 72% can be read as a resident figure: PEICMC's volume includes visitors' purchases, and the age structure behind the adult count comes from a different year than the population total. The next annual report will show whether the volume gain holds against PEICMC's own 2026-27 target of 7,685 kg.
This analysis applies the Dan K Reports Cannabis Market Framework. For methodology, assumptions, and the complete state-by-state comparison, see the framework documentation.