Statistics Canada's data on March REC sales show purchases surged as the pandemic set it. Sales resulted in $181M in sales nationally, an increase of 19.2% from February (and roughly triple March 2019's $60.9M). Average prices also hit their lowest points in March before rising slightly in April.
BNN Bloomberg, MJ Biz Daily, Twitter--@itsdgc

• The greatest increase in sales was in Northwest Territories, whose $301,000 in spending represented a 40.7% increase over February.
• The major province next hungriest for REC in March was Quebec, where $37.7M spent was a 29.1% month-over-month increase. This number will perturb Quebec's anti-cannabis CAQ government, but it reflects growing public comfort with REC, which Quebeckers were once national outliers in opposing.
  RCI-Net, Leafly
• Yukon (22.3%), Alberta (20.8%), and Ontario (20.6%) held the third through fifth positions in increased sales over February.
  Twitter--@itsdgc

Only PEI reported declining sales after the province closed all REC and liquor stores during the lockdown. Some believe this cost the province gains on the illicit market at a time when it was otherwise a quiet success. PEI reopened REC stores on May 22.
Twitter--@ProfMJArmstrong, Leader Post, Cannabis Retailer

Montreal represented the country's most dramatic municipal increase in March sales (up 61.4%), followed by Toronto (26.3%), Calgary (23.8%), and Edmonton (18.3%). Ottawa was the only city to post a decline, of 0.3%.
Jean Leloup, Twitter--@itsdgc

Early on in the pandemic, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario shifted quickly from physical to virtual inspections for stores, which helps explain why the regulator has been so consistent in processing store applications.
MJ Biz Daily

• Last week, there were roughly 60 REC stores open in Ontario, 64 potential REC stores undergoing the final 15-day public notice period, and an additional 271 other applications in progress. Ontario is on track to raise its REC stores from 57 to  392 at surprising speed.
  Twitter--@Alannasokic
• For those retailers looking to thrive and differentiate themselves among a swiftly growing number of competitors, Cannabis Retailer offers some best practices, as well as some reflections on retail branding aesthetics since most consumers are over 2018's promise that each store be "modern and bright, like an Apple Store!"
  Cannabis Retailer
• Aspiring REC retailers looking set up shop in smaller markets think they're likely to duck some of the competition in larger urban centres.
  CBC Windsor

In the US as in Canada, consumers want cheap REC, and the price of cheap is declining. (An ounce of Pure Sunfarms Indica Blend was selling for $107.24 from Friendly Stranger in Ontario, the lowest per-ounce price I've seen for legal flower.)
CNN, Twitter--@ChrisGoodwin79

• Canopy REC retail arm Tokyo Smoke is now offering mix-and-match half-ounces composed of four 3.5 gram packages of different flower. This variety-pack approach to ounces and half-ounces is widespread on illicit mail order marijuana sites (MOMs) and seems like a wise move.
  Twitter--@WhatsMyPot

Another popular item is larger packs of pre-rolls, particularly sold at a bargain price. Again scoring points in a market they might have scared off last year, Redecan has been succeeding with its 10-packs of "Redees" 0.35g pre-rolls, sold for $20 in Ontario and $43 in Alberta.
CityNews, Twitter--@GBFarmerDeb, @StirTheMoose

• Lake City Cannabis's Ryan Roch said the 10-packs "should be a canary in the coal mine for every LP doing Pre-Rolls. I have yet to see such a positive response from a product. 10-15 calls a day looking for them." Fair warning: Redees are designed to look and draw like cigarettes, which has turned some consumers off, and others on.
  Twitter--@LakeCityCanna, @OBCDamian, @markcavdar

Many Canadians have turned to cannabis to ease their anxieties during COVID-19 (as have our American cousins) though precise data about how much remains scarce. 
Calgary Herald, Bloomberg,

• You can help fill in the missing data: here's a short survey on COVID-19 and cannabis use from the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario)
  CHEO
• Law firm McCarthy Tétrault offered a factsheet of legal considerations among COVID's impacts.
  McCarthy Tétrault
• Neuroscientist and cannabis researcher Nick Jikomes, PhD explained recent research out of the University of Saskatchewan suggesting CBD may prevent COVID.
  Thread Reader/Twitter--@trikomes

COVID is one thing, but some believe the industry has yet to recover from last summer's CannTrust debacle. And surviving COVID doesn't guarantee companies will come out of the crisis stronger.
Mugglehead, GrowthOp

Some companies who've survived the first three months of the pandemic have done so by employing enormous flexibility and wondering whether the regulators could also be more flexible
The Rise

• Cannabis NB has allowed licensed cannabis sales through pop-up storefronts at trade shows: whenever we're able to go to trade shows again, why couldn't Ontario do the same?
  Twitter--@StoicAdvisory
• Provinces could fairly easily update their regs to allow for nurseries to sell seeds and clones direct to consumers online.
  Twitter--@drowbb
• Ottawa's Hybrid Pharma, the first pharmacy outside Shoppers Drug Mart to secure a Health Canada sales license for MED, is pushing for Health Canada to harmonize the MED system with the Canadian pharmacy system to allow for in-patient consultations.
  StratCann

As Ontario begins to lift pandemic restrictions and open stores again, industry braces for the end of the temporary emergency-order allowing private delivery in the province.

• Last week, I reported a powerful group of lobbyists and REC stores was pressuring Ontario's Ford government to make delivery permanent.
  WeedWeek
• This week, Ford signaled his openness to the possibility, as well as to continue allowing bars and restaurants to sell takeout alcohol. (Ford's populist supporters cheered the idea as a chance to slim government and deregulate.)
  Twitter--@RobertBenzie, Toronto Sun, The Province

The BC attorney general's office reported the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch is considering appeals from REC retailers to sell online and deliver directly to consumers.
Kamloops This Week

Quick Hits

1. British Columbia's provincial share of federal excise tax revenue hit a record peak in December, 2019 with $2.5M for the provincial coffers, up from $1.7M in November.
   MJ Biz Daily

2. The Department of Veterans' Affairs spent $77,794,212.57 on MED in 2019, more than the $66.2M the department spent on all 12,000 other drugs combined. Many blame Big Weed.
   Chronicle Herald

Zenabis CEO Kevin Coft announced "Zenabis, in conjunction with our European Union partners Natrix Sciences Ltd. (formerly Starpharma Ltd. Malta) and ZenPharm Ltd., have received EU-GMP approval."
NewsWire

• The demanding but desirable EU Good Manufacturing Practices certification allows companies to sell within the European Union.
• Zenabis argued it "has obtained EU-GMP approval through its Malta-based European partner, ZenPharm Limited, "in which it owns a 43.5% stake."
• In response, Materia Ventures CEO Deepak Anand called the company out, noting "Getting an export permit to ship products for process validation [does not equal] getting 'EU-GMP Approval' [...] Definately [sic] not EU-GMP!" Anand called upon the company to specify "who gave them this EU-GMP Approval." They did not.
  Twitter--@_deepakanand
• I contacted Zenabis for comment and had not heard back as this issue went into production.

Across the Sector:

• 48North reported Q3 earnings, with $2.8M revenue and $17.8 net loss. Analyst Betting Bruiser noted the company announced it had cut its average selling price per gram from $1 t0 $0.50.
  Newswire, Twitter--@BettingBruiser
• Aphria announced it will move from the New York Stock Exchange to the Nasdaq Global Select market in order to keep costs down.
  Yahoo Finance

Last week, Tilray CEO Brendan Kennedy predicted another dozen LPs would go bankrupt before the year was through. This week, cannabis investment firm Stoic Advisory's CEO Aaron Salz predicted "a huge chunk" of the 383 companies licensed by Health Canada will go bankrupt within the next year.
BNN Bloomberg, Mugglehead

Ohio REC retailer Green Growth Brands, which traded in Canada, announced it had filed for protection from its Canadian creditors (some of whom have filed lawsuits against the company).
Globe Newswire, MJ Biz Daily

• Green Growth, once helmed by former Victoria's Secret CEO Peter Horvath, may be best remembered in Canada for its failed attempt at a hostile takeover of Aphria, that began in December 2018 and was rejected in April of 2019.
  MG Retailer, CTV News

Aurora announced it acquired U.S. hemp/CBD brand Reliva for USD$40M in an all-share transaction, finally achieving Aurora's longtime plan to return to the U.S. in order to cash in on the American CBD craze. Aurora spun off its U.S. subsidiary Australis Capital in 2018.
PR Newswire, New York Times, MJ Biz Daily

• Interim CEO Michael Singer celebrated "immediate access into the world's largest cannabinoid market," though commentators warned Aurora to expect a significantly more competitive situation than in Canada.
  CNBC
• Because Reliva's low-priced CBD drinks, gummies, creams, and other products are sold in 20,000 mass-market retail locations across the US, Aurora may be ready for the challenge--especially as Reliva has no debt and requires little capital outlay.
  Yahoo Finance, BNN Bloomberg
• Canopy, meanwhile, just closed its U.S. hemp facility after producing overstock in 2019--it was one of many companies contributing to a hemp supply glut.
  Hemp Industry Daily

Aurora's shares jumped after the deal, which drew the scrutiny of some critics. Jeffries analyst Owen Bennett downgraded Aurora from "hold" to "underperform," predicting more difficult months would still be coming for the company.
Yahoo Finance

• Bennett noted Aurora is now the most expensive Canadian cannabis stock despite facing challenges it hasn't resolved.
  Barron's
• Cowen analyst Vivien Azer said the "long-awaited" move into the U.S. market was "logical" and will help Aurora on its adjusted EBITDA.
  Fortune

As of Monday, June 1, any person who wants to run a REC store in Manitoba may apply. Since legalization, Manitoba has only licensed 30 REC stores, half of which are in Winnipeg, but a government representative said the move would encourage "an open and competitive cannabis market" that will generate jobs and bolster Manitoba's economy as the province recovers from COVID-19.
MJ Biz Daily, Global News

• A new "Controlled Access License"will be introduced, allowing for licensed retailers operating in the "store-within-a-store" model, possibly even for non age-restricted stores able to restrict access to a single area.
  Twitter--@drowbb
• Only one application per person will be processed at a time, and no REC owner may hold more than 15% of stand-alone stores in the province, though that proportion will be expanded as the market widens.
  Cannabis Retailer

Quick Hits

1. Lawyer Chad Finkelstein broke down the mysteries of white-label packaging, in which producers delivery raw product for another company to brand and sell.
   Twitter--@ChadFinkelstein

2. South Korea's sovereign wealth fund bought into Cronos, Aurora, and Canopy as the three major LP stocks hit 52-week lows.
   MJ Biz Daily

Twenty months after REC legalization and pressure from municipalities and aspiring operators, the territory of Nunavut will begin allowing physical REC stores on June 1. Previously, Nunavummiut could only order REC online from either Canopy or AgMedica Bioscience.
Nunatsiaq News, MJ Biz Daily

• Two classes of REC retail licenses will exist: "Remote sales licenses" will allow operators to make sales online or by phone and ship REC throughout the territory.
  Cannabis Retailer
• Physical store licenses will allow in-person sales. These licenses are subsequently split into licenses for standalone stores as well as for stores integrated into other retailers.