Bill Blair: "No Really, The Supply Shortage Is Over!"

Canada's federal cannabis point-man Bill Blair took to Twitter on Wednesday to stand by his previous statements about the supply shortage being over, claiming, “The data is clear: there remains sufficient supply and demand to meet and exceed existing demand.”

• Ontario’s Conservative Ford Government has repeatedly blamed the federal Liberal government for the supply shortage. Blair appeared to swipe back at those accusations by saying, “While some provinces are making considerable progress in offering adults a safer alternative to the illegal market, others still have much work to do establish their wholesale and retail distribution systems and better protect Canadians.”
  Twitter—Bill Blair
• Representatives of most provincial agencies reported they were still not receiving anything close to what they were ordering. Globe and Mail—Paywall
• The data to which Blair was referring revealed the amount of cannabis “packaged, labeled and ready for sale” was greater than the number of sales for legalization’s first two months. In December, LPs had a total of 19,000 kilograms of cannabis Health Canada considers “ready for sale,” and retailers only sold 7,000 kilograms.

• A Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation representative said part of the problem is that customers are seeking smaller packages of high-THC product, which are not always available.
  MJ Biz Daily
• LP Tantalus Labs’ CEO Dan Sutton argued the problem was one of quality. He told MJ Biz Daily “One explanation might be that the quality of that [19,000 kilograms of"ready for sale"] cannabis is so low that it is only suitable for extraction into commodity cannabinoids come October 2019.”
• On Twitter, Sutton expanded his argument to explain, “Mids [middle-grade products] don’t move. At any price.” Twitter—Dan Sutton
• Lift & Co. VP Strategy Nick Pateras argued the average consumer wasn’t sophisticated enough to tell the difference between “mids” and “top shelf product,” but Sutton argued “even ‘unsophisticated’ cannabis purchasers know low quality product when they see it. Moreover, ~4mil Canadians consumed cannabis from the black market last year, this is not a greenfield opportunity.” Twitter—Nick Pateras, Dan Sutton
• Blogger Michael Minler recalled last week’s news that the provinces with the fewest physical stores sold the least amount of REC in arguing most Canadians seem happier to buy cannabis in person, rather than online. “Talking to local retailers lots of elderly people come in,” Minler said. “I’d assume many don't purchase online.” MJ Biz Daily, Twitter—Michael Minler
• Nick Pateras noted last week that only 4.7% of the $8M spent on REC in New Brunswick's first quarter was spent online. Twitter—Nick Pateras
• Seeking Alpha concluded, "The clear implication here is that provinces need to open more cannabis stores. The provinces that are doing well have stores. In New Brunswick, retail sales in store are more than 20x higher than online sales - consumers want to be able to see and smell their cannabis before purchasing, and to drive home with their cannabis today."