The Ottawa Food Bank is getting a boost from one of Canada’s largest cannabis producers and one of the world’s most influential hip-hop groups.

In a video posted earlier this week on Twitter, Michael Maidment, the CEO of the Ottawa Food Bank, said the organization was in need of cash donations.

The Ontario government’s decision to shut down cannabis stores in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic will only send customers back to the black market where they’ll buy unregulated products, says one prominent retailer.

Cameron Brown, spokesman for the The Hunny Pot, says his company has two stores open already and four under construction. The company’s location in downtown Toronto was one of the first to open in April 2019 and has been doing brisk enough business that more stores are on the way.

He said after Premier Doug Ford announced pot shops would be closed due to COVID, his store in Toronto and another location in Burlington were swamped.

Legal recreational cannabis sales saw a spike in Alberta over the month of March according to some of the province's major retailers.

As the COVID-19 crisis began to hit the province, it appears as though pot smokers decided to stock up.

"We’ve seen a significant increase in sales, particularly as we entered into the COVID phase – in and around March 12 and that was sustained for about two weeks," Fire & Flower Chief Financial Officer, Nadia Vattovaz told CTV News from Toronto via video chat.

"We have since that time seen a little bit of a drop off, but it’s actually returning to pre-levels," she said.

Nova Cannabis reported a similar trend.

Shoppers lined up at Ottawa’s cannabis stores to stock up before the stores are ordered to close during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Ontario Government removed cannabis stores from the list of essential businesses allowed to stay open during the COVID-19 pandemic.  All non-essential stores must close by 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, April 4.

There were long lines at the Stash & Co. Recreational Cannabis on Bank Street and the Fire & Flower Cannabis store on York Street Friday evening.

As of midday on April 2nd, marijuana stocks have so far had quite a rally. Top companies in the industry such as Tilray have shot up by as much as 12% during the day, before climbing back to a respectable 2% gain. Many of the deductions being made about the cannabis industry have been on a short term basis. This is because it is extremely difficult to tell where the market will be in the next few months, let alone 2 weeks from now.

The cannabis industry has an undeniable packaging problem, and the packaging companies that serve both retailers as well as growers are jumping in headfirst to help green up the segment.

We touched base with STO Responsible, a cannabis packaging company in Denver, CO, to discuss how they are helping growers and distributors overcome the tendency to swath legal cannabis products in as much plastic as possible.

It is no secret that the coronavirus pandemic has sent shockwaves throughout the global economy. 

Many industries are doing their best to limp along as much as reasonably possible, while other industries have been shut down entirely.

One industry that seems to be adapting to the situation better than others is the emerging global cannabis industry, and that’s likely not a coincidence.

Cannabis companies have operated in a constantly evolving landscape since the earliest days of the legal industry, and hurdles and challenges are virtually guaranteed, albeit not in the form of a pandemic.

It was roughly one year ago that pot euphoria peaked. By the end of the first quarter of 2019, the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences ETF was up more than 50% on a year-to-date basis, and over a dozen popular pot stocks had advanced at least 70%. With high-margin derivatives (edibles, infused beverages, vapes, concentrates, and topicals) expected to be launched in Canada and numerous U.S. states angling for recreational legalization, it looked as if nothing could stop marijuana's momentum.

Canadian cannabis company CEOs have been making big pay packages over the last few years coinciding with net losses. But, they have not been disclosing details required by Canadian law about who they employ to come up with the pay formulas and how much these consultants are paid.

A review of Canadian public filings by Cannabis Law Report has found at least three publicly traded companies who have failed to be transparent in telling shareholders how much they were actually paying their executives.

It appears that some packages could be described as “over-compensation” and were/are making some individuals very wealthy.

The efforts of front-line retail and production staff at Delta 9 Cannabis Inc. are being recognized with extra pay.

As essential workers across the continent grapple with employers to ensure safety and be fairly compensated for extra hours and increased health risks, the Canadian cannabis company is initiating a “grateful pay.”

With company operations remaining open during the coronavirus outbreak, an extra $2 an hour has been instituted for staff who “continue to work during this difficult time,” notes a statement from Delta 9.