Like the rest of the world, the cannabis sector struggled to make sense of the widening chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic and the worldwide wave of individual isolation tactics and border shutdowns.
Globe and Mail
- Canada Post will no longer deliver MED directly to consumers’ doors to limit direct contact between mail carriers and the public. Carriers will instead leave a delivery notice card and ask consumers to go directly to the post office to pick up their packages.
Leafly - MED advocates cried foul, noting this forces patients (who may be immunosuppressed and/or disabled) to leave their homes.
Tantalus Labs’ Dan Sutton said that for LPs, the crisis will increase crop risks and lost purchase orders, and will eventually require ramping-up in order to make up for lost time. (Shoppify has a list of relief agencies for companies and people affected by the pandemic.)
Twitter–@Dsutton1986, Shopify
- WeedMD CEO Angelo Tsebelis published an open letter to shareholders, outlining (among other things) the company’s COVID protocols. Few other LPs have done the same.
WeedMD - Health Canada’s Cannabis Program employees are working remotely, which may contribute to license processing delays.
Twitter–@Bdavidson911, @pipedreemzinc - Health Canada’s in-person inspections–just increased following the CannTrust scandal last summer–are being shelved for several weeks, and may return as “paper/video inspections.”
Twitter–@drowbb
NORML circulated guidelines for how to lower COVID transmission risk while using cannabis. The Ontario Cannabis Store posted a similar set of guidelines.
While civilians race to Costco for toilet paper, cultivators are stocking up on grow supplies ahead of possible supply-chain disruption.
Twitter–@ChimeraGenetics
This is a weird time for a happy announcement, but this week WeedWeek added a new member of our reporting team: business columnist Dan Mitchell, whose first piece is about how San Francisco Bay Area businesses are adapting. Welcome aboard, Dan. Let’s hope every week that follows is less terrifying than this one.
