A new poll from one of Canada’s leading mental health organizations says Ontario residents are bracing for a mental health crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The survey from the Ontario division of the Canadian Mental Health Association is the first in a series of three questionnaires meant to gauge the impact the outbreak and its various ripple effects will have on the way Ontario residents feel and behave.

The majority of the 1,001 respondents to the online poll conducted by Pollara say they fear the effects COVID-19 will have on the national economy, the future for both older and younger generations, personal finances and the well-being of friends and family.

Canada’s black market of pot is still riding rampant over licensed retailers, a year into what many say continues to be a slow rollout of brick-and-mortar stores in Ontario and regulatory challenges.

Retail stores in Ontario sold approximately $200 million in recreational pot last year, accounting for the lion’s share of just under $300 million in estimated Ontario Cannabis Store recreational sales, said Cheri Mara, chief commercial officer for the OCS. That’s far below the estimated $2.9-billion provincial market value.

“I wouldn’t be honest with you if I said we were happy with that number … when our mandate is to eradicate the illicit market,” she said.

 Hobo Cannabis Company (“Hobo”) today announces the launch of its home delivery service in Toronto, Ontario, effective immediately. The announcement follows the initial launch of Hobo’s same-day home delivery service in the nation’s capital, Ottawa, last month.

Workers won’t begin planting nearly 20,000 marijuana plants outside WeedMD’s Strathroy greenhouse until early next month, but preparations already are underway for the company’s second outdoor cannabis crop.

WeedMD, a London-headquartered firm – with operations in Strathroy, Aylmer and Bowmanville, east of Oshawa – was one of the first pot producers to grow cannabis outside last year after the government lifted its ban on outdoor cultivation.

Now, head of cultivation Curtis Wallace is taking the lessons learned last year to ensure this season’s crop is the best.

Only seven strains of cannabis are being planted on the 11-hectare farm – formerly an organic asparagus farm – down from 38 varieties last year, Wallace said.

Cannabis purchases rose as much as 600 per cent since the beginning of March in Canada's biggest market thanks to stockpiling by consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic - and demand may be sticking around. 

Sales data provided by the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) over the past six weeks - the same period that COVID-19 spread across the country - show legal pot appears to be a more "habitual" purchase than a one-time novelty, according to Cheri Mara chief commercial officer at the provincial retailer. 

While it may be too early to really gauge how COVID-19 will impact legal cannabis sales over the long term, the OCS data provide a highly precise glimpse at how people are consuming cannabis during the pandemic. 

For years, marijuana stocks were virtually unstoppable. The prospect of $50 billion or more in annual worldwide sales by 2030 sent North American cannabis stock valuations into the stratosphere. But over the past 13 months, most pot stocks have seen their valuations retrace anywhere from 50% to 95%. It's been ugly, with a capital "U."

Former Ontario Provincial Police commissioner Julian Fantino and former RCMP deputy commissioner Raf Souccar are leaving Aleafia, the cannabis company they founded.

More than a third of cannabis customers prefer to roll a joint when they smoke. And no matter how they use marijuana, products with “very strong” THC are the most popular choice.

So say the results of Ontario Cannabis Store’s first customer preferences survey conducted from Mar. 30 to Apr. 10. Results were based on a pop-up invitation triggered for visitors to its website, Daffyd Roderick, director of communications for the OCS, notes in an email to The GrowthOp.

Ontario's cannabis distributor has seen online orders triple since COVID-19 started sweeping the country and prevention measures were implemented, with almost one in three orders coming from new customers.

The Ontario Cannabis Store says it received between 2,500 and 3,500 orders prior to March 9, but in the weeks after mass adoption of physical distancing, those orders doubled to 5,000, then doubled again, topping out at 13,000 in one particular week.

In a bid to continue squeezing out the illegal market and keep up with the demand, the distributor has staffed up, lowered prices on more than 240 cannabis products and launched free shipping during COVID-19 to make legal options more accessible.