Canopy Growth Corp. announced sweeping changes Thursday across its global operations aimed at cutting costs that will result in a charge of up to $800 million and a headcount reduction of 85 full-time positions.

Canopy said it will exit Africa, cease cultivation in Colombia, shut down its Saskatchewan production facility, and halt hemp cultivation in New York due to an oversupply of the product from last year's growing season. 

"When I arrived at Canopy Growth in January, I committed to conducting a strategic review in order to lower our cost structure and reduce our cash burn," said David Klein, Canopy’s chief executive officer, in a statement. 

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. 

Is Ontario’s struggling weed store gaining a new, loyal customer base among stoners in lockdown?

The provincial cannabis store lost $42 million in its first fiscal year, but online sales skyrocketed in the weeks after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. As Canadian public health authorities implemented increasingly strict physical distancing measures in an effort to contain the virus, many of us were motivated to hunker down at home and stockpile essential supplies — which, according to figures released today, included a lot of cannabis.

The Ontario Cannabis Store’s website has seen massive improvements since launching in October of 2018. The blog at OCS.ca is filled with useful how-tos and shoppers can now sift through dried flower strains by potency.

The Ontario government shouldn’t allow weed lounges to open because society needs more time to gauge the impact of the federal cannabis legalization, Ottawa’s public health unit says.

In a response to a provincial government request for comment on the potential to allow cannabis consumption establishments, medical officer of health Vera Etches wrote that “unintended consequences are not yet known” since legalization only started about a year and a half ago.

“A public health approach to regulating cannabis is needed to minimize the potential health and social harms,” Etches wrote in her response, which has been made public through the release of the health board’s agenda for its meeting next Monday.

There’s no need to try to persuade David Clement about there being two sets of rules for alcohol and cannabis. He’s already convinced. The North American affairs manager for the Consumer Choice Center doesn’t mince words. “There is a huge double standard between the two,” he tells The GrowthOp. 

Clement points to the measures that were taken to address the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on both industries (and the respective timing of government assistance) as an example of the glaring difference between how both are perceived and protected.

Ontario, the most populous out of Canada's 10 provinces, could potentially be the one most populated with marijuana dispensaries. According to data provided to Marijuana Business Daily by the province's Alcohol and Gaming Commission, it has received almost 900 applications for retail operator licenses (ROLs) since Jan. 6.

That was the date when the province abandoned its former lottery system of license granting for a completely open application process, in which any business could apply.

Cannabis retailers in Ottawa are breathing a sigh of relief after the provincial government reversed a decision that would have forced private pot shops to completely shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On April 3, Premier Doug Ford expanded the province's list of non-essential business to include cannabis stores.

Four days later, the province issued an emergency order allowing those stores to both deliver and offer curbside pickup from Monday to Sunday, between 9 a.m. and 11 p.m.

The order is in place for 14 days. 

Cannabis retailers in Ontario were allowed to reopen for curbside pickup and deliver on Tuesday under an emergency order issued by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO). The move reverses an order issued by the province last week that deemed recreational marijuana shops nonessential businesses and directed them to close to help contain the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Weed on wheels is coming to Ontario – the legal kind anyway.

Days after shutting down legal cannabis retailers as “non-essential” workplaces, the Ford government announced late Tuesday it will allow curbside pickup options and delivery.

Attorney General Doug Downie brought the issue to cabinet on Tuesday afternoon seeking an order to allow the retailers to still serve customers from 9 a.m. to 1 1p.m. as long as customers don’t enter the store. Cabinet approved the order and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario enacted the emergency order.

No more than 30 grams of dried cannabis will be allowed to be delivered or picked up.