Marijuana stocks have without a doubt, taken a beating these last few months. Around six months ago, we saw some issues such as supply bottlenecks and the rising black market, both take their respective tolls on pot stock prices. Since that time, the largest catalyst to cannabis stocks has been the coronavirus. We can’t say that cannabis is the only industry being hit right now as the coronavirus has been wreaking havoc across all world markets. But, with any downtrodden time, there usually is an uptrend waiting to take hold.

Businesses of many different stripes are shutting their doors this week in line with some provinces declaring states of emergency amid the COVID-19 spread, but not all.

In the wake of the Ontario government declaring cannabis an essential service, Windsor’s first legal cannabis shop is gearing up to open for business, possibly as soon as this Friday.

David Craig, chief design officer for J. Supply Holdings, told CBC News that the store is “still on track to open this week,” but that the company has made “some new adaptations” to mitigate risk and ensure the health and safety of staff and clients alike.

The novel coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan, China in December last year. Officially called COVID-19, the virus since then has become a global pandemic. In an effort to control the spread in Canada, it was announced recently that non-essential businesses will shut down in Ontario and Quebec. Pot shops, deemed essential, will remain open.

Cannabis, as it turns out, is an increasingly popular choice of those prepping for isolation.

Approximately 4,000 times these past two weeks, I’ve thanked my lucky stars cannabis was legalized before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe and sent us all cowering in our bong dens.

Cannabis sales are touching new highs as customers across the US and Canada stockpile weed to prepare for long spells of isolation because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Between March 16 and March 22, sales of recreational cannabis across key US markets, including California, Colorado, Oregon and Alaska, were up 50 percent and medical marijuana sales rose 41 percent from the same period last year, figures obtained from cannabis point of sale and data platform Flowhub show.

A second Crown corporation tasked with helping prop up the Canadian economy during the COVID-19 pandemic is giving cannabis companies the cold shoulder. 

As hospitals across Canada scramble to find new protective gear for healthcare workers who are on the front lines of the COVID-19 outbreak, some are getting fresh shipments from an unlikely source: licensed cannabis producers.

Several major cannabis producers such as Canopy Growth Corp. and Hexo Corp. have provided hospitals with personal protection equipment (PPE) such as face masks, gloves, and bodysuits, drawing from their own excess inventory.

Staff at cannabis producers often use the same facemasks and other PPE gear that hospital workers wear when entering plant growing rooms to help prevent plant contamination and the transfer of mould or mildew which could be devastating for a company's harvest plans. 

More than three-dozen Ontario government employees working in the cannabis space were named on the province's annual Sunshine List, which tracks public-sector staffers that make more than $100,000 a year. 

The majority of those listed represent The Ontario Cannabis Store, accounting for 36 of the 39 people associated with the cannabis sector on the list, which was released late Friday.

The GrowthOp reached out to an illicit cannabis worker to find out what safety measures are in place for employees to manage the risks of the coronavirus. Here’s what they had to say.

To mitigate the financial strain COVID-19 and social distancing has placed on Canadians, the government has announced greater eligibility for EI and other financial breaks in the weeks and months to come. But these measures don’t offer much to those employed in an illegal capacity, like the very active illicit cannabis market. As someone who is currently employed by an illicit Toronto cannabis organization, I am acutely aware of the dangers of continued exposure to this virus in the workplace. 

Inventory at Canadian cannabis stores are lower than ever due to increased sales, but officials maintain supply is stable.

Marijuana sales hit an unprecedented bump last week, as American consumers stocked up on cannabis goods like it was toilet paper or hand sanitizer. Data now shows Canadian cannabis stores experience a similar coronavirus-related spike in sales, in some provinces.