It appears recreational cannabis sales in Vancouver are heading in a better direction, reportedly representing one of the top Canadian cities in April and contributing to record sales for the entire country.

Cannabis sales in Vancouver were reported to be $16.7 million, up about 30 per cent from March, according to Marijuana Business Daily.

That might offer some solace after Statistics Canada figures earlier this year showed the city had the lowest per capita spending on legal adult-use cannabis products among Canadian cities, the publication reported at the time.

For April, Toronto was reportedly the top legal seller, with $41.6 million in recreational weed sales. That’s not much of a surprise given the explosion of retail stores in both the city and the country’s most populous province.

The growth in stores is thanks to a decision by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario to up the number of Retail Store Authorizations that will be allowed every month.

Cities next in line after Toronto were Montreal at $24.7 million, Edmonton at $19.5 million, Calgary at $16 million, Ottawa at $10.4 million, Winnipeg at $8.2 million, Quebec City at $5.9 million and Gatineau at $1.4 million, Marijuana Business Daily reports.

Canada-wide, the April figures from Statistics Canada show adult-use weed sales continued their upward trend, following dips in both January and February before rebounding in March.

Overall, $309.7 million in recreational cannabis was sold in April compared to approximately $298.3 million in March and $262.0 million in February.

As a province, B.C. witnessed one of the strongest jumps, up about 13.4 per cent from $41.6 million in March to just shy of $47 million in April. That is a far cry from the approximately $4 million in legal weed sales that B.C. saw in June 2019 and the approximately $29 million total in June 2020.

Like other provinces, B.C. is having a growth spurt retail-wise. The list of cannabis stores in the province, both private and government-operated, shows there are now almost 400 stores either open or coming soon.

Of the other provinces, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan all saw increases in April cannabis sales compared to March, the Statistics Canada figures show. Recreational sales in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Alberta and the Northwest Territories all decreased, albeit sometimes very slightly. No figures were listed for PEI, Yukon or Nunavut.