Following record sales of marijuana during the coronavirus lockdowns, the CEO of Aphria said that the time is right to allow pot producers to sell their product directly to customers. 

Speaking to BNN Bloomberg last week, Irwin Simon said he wants to become “what Amazon is to the grocery business,” arguing that online cannabis sales could be the future of the struggling industry. 

Most of the legal cannabis in Canada is sold in government-owned stores and via government-run wholesale distribution schemes. Although medical marijuana is sold directly to patients, Canada’s provinces have different rules for selling weed for recreational use.   

As the world is seemingly closed for business, many business owners find themselves in hot water. According to Liesl Bernard, CEO, and founder of cannabis staffing agency CannabizTeam, the cannabis industry is not one of those businesses. Being coined as “corona stress disorder”, people are turning to cannabis products to ease their anxiety over the current state of the world. And since everyone is at home, people are running through their products at a much faster rate than usual. 

The unofficial holiday celebrating all things cannabis arrives Monday as the nation’s emerging legal marijuana market braces for an economic blow from the coronavirus crisis, with many consumers reducing spending or going underground for deals.

It was supposed to be a long weekend of festivals and music culminating on April 20, or 4/20, the code for marijuana’s high holiday. Instead, it has been reduced to an online replica because of stay-at-home orders to curb the pandemic.

Terpenes have become a hot topic in the world of cannabis and beyond.

These valuable compounds unite the cannabis, health, wellness, and flavor industries with a wide range of benefits and applications. As of 2020, there have been over 100 cannabis-derived terpenes identified in published journals. Cannabis is one of the most abundant sources of terpenes in the entire world, with many compounds yet to be discovered. We know after studying hundreds of marijuana samples that there are over 400 terpenes and aroma compounds in a variety of strains.  

Although no one knows for sure what the full impact of the novel coronavirus will be on the hemp and CBD industries, farmers are predicting a rough road ahead.

A new survey by Hemp Grower found over 80 percent of hemp farmers who responded expected financial losses due to COVID-19’s influence on the market. About 68 percent said their business already was impacted by the virus and about one-third expect losses of 40 percent or greater. Although a vast majority of respondents either have or are expecting financial losses, about half of respondents said their business is still functioning close to normal. 

It's been a wild ride for pot stocks already in 2020. Last year, the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences ETF (OTC: HMLSF) fell by 39% while the S&P 500 soared by 31%. This year, the Life Sciences ETF is already down 35%, except this time the S&P 500 is also down by 11%. Unfortunately, some volatility is unavoidable as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. However, for cannabis investors who want to minimize their risk and look for safer options to invest in, there is a solution -- medical marijuana.

March was a strong month for pot sales. As the coronavirus pandemic put consumers on edge, many people loaded up on cannabis, presumably in anticipation of prolonged stays at home. However, the data suggest that sales surged during the first half of the month, while sales began to decline toward the end of the month. Some industry experts went so far as calling pot "recession-proof" and similar to alcohol in its resiliency.

However, it may be far too early to tell if that's the case. For investors, April will be a very telling month, and whatever happens will shed light on whether pot stocks will be okay during the coronavirus pandemic, or if their sales could take a significant hit in the weeks and months ahead.

Last month, Canopy Growth (NYSE:CGC)(TSE:WEED) announced that it will close two cultivation facilities located in British Columbia and the yet-to-open greenhouse facility in Ontario. On Thursday, the company announced another set of global operational changes to optimize its production, improve efficiency, and better align its supply with the demand.

There is no nice way of putting this. America, all of it, is taking it on the chin in 2020. We had barely even come out of the gate this year when, all of a sudden, the entire population was forced back inside due to a sneaky virus that nobody seems to understand or have any control over.

As a result, the country has mostly shut down, leaving us all to watch the economy drop dead right from the living room couch. There is no end in sight to the madness either, at least nothing concrete of hope, making it a distinct possibility that our financial stability could soon be in dire straits.