As the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 erased all of its gains since President Donald Trump took office in January of 2017, pot stocks were on the rise early in the session on Monday. 

Cannabis companies Tilray, Hexo, Canopy Growth and Aphria kicked off Monday’s session in the green despite the coronavirus outbreak, which has left markets reeling in recent weeks.

hree members of Parliament and 74 Canadian cannabis industry professionals are calling on the federal government to include the cannabis sector in Ottawa’s COVID-19 relief funds.

Last week, Tantalus Labs CEO Dan Sutton tweeted the cannabis industry was being excluded from the federal government’s $10 billion in loans to support the Canadian economy.

On Thursday, Vancouver Kingsway MP Don Davies sent a letter to Minister of Finance William Morneau calling the exclusion “economic stigmatization” while urging for federal support of the cannabis industry. The letter was co-signed by MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith and MP Scott Reid. All three MPs co-chair the Parliamentary Cannabis Caucus. 

You can’t keep a good pot shop down.

The One Plant marijuana dispensary in Barrie, Ont. shut its doors temporarily on Friday after it was reported one of its employees had been in close contact with someone who had tested positive for the coronavirus.

“This decision was taken by One Plant leadership as a precautionary measure due to the rapidly evolving novel coronavirus (COVID-19),” said manager Ryan Grenville, according to CTV News.

The global pandemic has made it pretty clear that weed is considered an essential item for some people, but could the industry that produces it play a bigger role in taking the fight to COVID-19?

One reader thinks so and is encouraging cannabis companies to consider modifying their equipment and facilities to help ease the strain that the coronavirus is placing on the world’s fragile health-care systems. “I hope such drastic measures will not be necessary,” the reader noted, but added the wide range of locations could soon prove invaluable.

“There’s a reasonable number of them across the country, in cities and towns (and) they are likely equipped with facility security, access monitoring and control,” the reader noted of cannabis facilities.

Licensed cannabis stores will remain open in Ontario during a provincial emergency shutdown of non-essential businesses designed to limit the spread of COVID-19, according to two sources directly familiar with the matter. 

Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced Monday that all non-essential businesses in the province will be required to shut down effective Tuesday at 11:59 p.m. for a period of at least 14 days. A list of businesses that will remain open will be released Tuesday, the government said in a release. 

Both sources, who declined to be named since the decision hasn't been made official, confirmed that cannabis retailers made the cut and will be deemed essential when the province releases its list of businesses that can remain open during the 14-day shutdown. 

It may not be an opportune time for companies to go public, but don't tell that to former Canopy Growth (NYSE:CGC) CEO Bruce Linton. Linton is still involved in the cannabis industry through Vireo Health (OTC:VREOF), and he's also looking to make a much bigger splash with the launch of a new company called Collective Growth. Given the success he achieved in making Canopy Growth into an industry leader, investors may want to keep a close watch on his latest business.

Cannabis is essential during a pandemic.

Over the last seven days, that’s the message perpetuated by several state- and county-level governing bodies: The plant is not some nice-to-have perk, but rather a mission-critical medicine.

For example, in San Francisco government officials reversed a decision to close down dispensaries and allowed them to remain open deeming cannabis "an essential medicine." In that vein, cannabis retailers across multiple state markets have been granted the right to keep their doors open and continue serving patients.

As retail stores around Northern Ontario close down temporarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a local pot shop is celebrating its "soft" opening Friday.

Tokyo Smoke North Bay on Lakeshore Drive is open to the public selling recreational cannabis products including regulated and tested flowers, edibles, oils, and other cannabis related products.

The cannabis retail store lottery draw was held back in august.

Owner Lorne Fine says the purpose of these stores is to keep providing pot to the public from officially licensed stores.

"As we all know cannabis has been legalized," said Fine.

Canadian cannabis shoppers will have to get used to a patchwork of closed stores and delivery disruptions as pot distributors across the country implement changes.

The moves have been sparked by an outbreak of the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19, which has pushed increasing numbers of Canadians to self-isolate and caused surges in demand for cannabis

Cannabis retailers in several provinces have advised customers that Canada Post will no longer be delivering parcels that require a signature or proof-of-age to customer doors because of disruptions to air travel and operations at their local facilities.

Shoppers must now look for a notice card notifying them of a nearby post office where they can show identification at and collect their orders.

Despite the cannabis industry's struggles, sales in its most important fully legalized market continue to grow. On Friday, Statistics Canada released its latest set of economic data, revealing that sales of licensed cannabis increased by 4.3% in January on a month-over-month basis.

That growth was in contrast to the broader Canadian retail economy, which rose only marginally over that stretch of time.