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Statistics Canada revealed Canadians bought $100M in legal REC in July, the most they've spent to date—up 14.3% from June's $91M in revenues. (And exceeding October and November 2018 sales combined.)
Cannabis sales are growing, but they're nowhere near other common goods. Over the Q1 2019 period, retailers sold $167M in legal REC while alcohol sellers sold $5.6B worth of booze. Yard and gardening equipment: $247M in the same period; while cut-flowers and houseplants: $330M; costume jewelry $171M.
GrowthOp
CIBS analyst John Zamparo published a client note calling consensus estimates from other analysts "unachievable." He believes the next year of REC sales will be lucky to hit $2.2B instead of the $6.5B in consensus revue estimates.
Bloomberg
Market research group the Cannalysts argued legal cannabis (including MED) was "falling woefully short" of ousting the illicit market, with legal REC meeting only 14% of June's total demand by volume.
MJ Biz Daily
Retail revenues are so slow that a Mackie analyst suggested firms with less than six months' worth of cash on hand should start thinking expansion.
MJ Biz Daily
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Ontario may end its government monopoly on cannabis wholesale and join Saskatchewan in allowing LPs to sell to retailers without an intermediary.
A panel of judges dismissed a claim by 11 disqualified Ontario REC retail lottery winners, also ending a freeze on licence processing.
Bloomberg
The Cannabis Council of Canada pressured the Ontario government to fast-track opening more REC retailers, arguing supply is now strong enough to support the whole market.
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The Globe interviewed CEOs from four major REC retailers. They reported consumers have "zero brand recognition" and are looking mostly for high-THC flower and convenient prerolls.
It's a good time to be an Alberta REC retailer, especially after last week's report that Calgary now has more REC stores than BC, Ontario, and Quebec combined. For everyone else, it's more of a challenge.
Cannabis Retailer, MJ Bi
Vancouver Business Brokers, who broker commercial real estate, listed two REC stores on BC's real-estate Multiple Listings Service, though it is unclear whether the sites are licensed.
Times-Colonist
Cannabis NB is set to pay its board members $50,000 for their service—twice as much as board members receive for sitting on the board of provincial wine and spirits regulator NB Liquor.
Ici Radio Canada—In French, GrowthOp
The supply shortage may be over, but many provincial REC websites are having difficulty keeping their products fully stocked.
Maclean's
Regina Police raided four unlicensed dispensaries, charging six. In the process, they also raided a cannabis-education business with a sign on its door noting there was no cannabis inside. Owner Kelly Csada was fined $250 for possessing an illicit MED edible, despite informing police she has a prescription. She believes she has the right under the Supreme Court decision R v Smith 2015, which guaranteed access to non-dried forms of edibles. Expect a lawsuit.
Regina Leader-Post, Global News, CBC Saskatchewan, CTV News
In the US, Cowen & Co estimated vaping represents 24% of the REC market, and many expected vape pens would be the first REC 2.0 product to explode in popularity. After a summer of stock market losses, the industry was looking forward to new products to buck them up. For them, the U.S. vape crisis couldn't have been more poorly timed.
Brad Bogus
VP Growth and Marketing, Confident Cannabis Confident Cannabis is creating transparency in the cannabis industry.
Pamela Hadfield
Co-founder, HelloMD HelloMD: The largest online community of health and wellness cannabis consumers. HelloMD on Instagram and Facebook
Spencer Vodnoy
CEO, Critical Mind Inc., Adelanto CA Affiliations: CA State Bar; Board member, Adelanto Growers Association Critical Mind, Inc. is a Medical Cannabis Cultivation and Manufacturing Facility located in Adelanto, CA. Providing the highest quality Cannabis products. Compliance without Compromise! criticalmindinc.com
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The Liberals could be campaigning on the success of legalization, but in keeping with Bruce Linton's prediction that Conservatives and Liberals would avoid the subject of cannabis this election, we haven't heard much from either leading party.
This week, however, the Green Party released its complete 88-page platform, including a section on cannabis full of errors.
The Conversation, the Leaf, Global News
The platform has some common-sense cannabis planks, like removing the excise tax on MED, pulling CBD off the Prescriptions List and allowing its sale as a Natural Health Product, and loosening onerous security requirements.
It may be legal in much of Canada to grow four cannabis plants, but that takes months. As growers across Canada are learning, stealing them is a lot faster.
Global News
In Oshawa, a resident confronted two men stealing his plants at 3:45am, only to have them stab him. He was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
Toronto Sun
A study by the Canadian Institute for Health Information found of the 23,500 Canadians aged 10 to 24 hospitalized due to substance use in 2017-2018, alcohol caused 16% of ER trips, while cannabis caused 40%.
CBC Health, CBC Ottawa
Strainprint released its inaugural 2019 Patient Retrospective, reporting patient data from 805,813 MED patients who used the Strainprint app throughout 2018 to track their symptoms and treatment routines. It can be yours for a cool $995.
The BC Human Rights Tribunal will hear the case of a retired Mountie and MED patient asked to leave a restaurant for smoking prescribed MED on an outdoor smoking patio.
CityNews 1130
In Montreal, patients at the West Island Cancer Wellness Centre complained that while LPs push them to get MED prescriptions, it's hard to find doctors willing to write them.
Montreal Gazette
Using technology exclusively licensed from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver company Cannabix announced it was developing a portable THC breath analyzer "ideally suited for workplace, parental, and personal use testing."
Globe NewsWire
Under Canadian law, only employees in safety-sensitive workplaces may be subject to drug tests. For all other workers, drug tests are considered to violate employee rights.
Ontario Human Rights Commission
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