Research

Short supply, low quality, high prices, and long line ups at stores have plagued the legal market pushing almost 80 per cent of cannabis purchases to stay in the black market, according to data collected by Statistics Canada for the last quarter of 2018.

Statistics Canada released updated numbers for its National Cannabis Survey, which looked at usage during the first quarter of 2019. Here are the key takeaways from the report.

Massachusetts opened its doors to recreational marijuana back in November and we learned this week that it has now reached more than $100 million in sales according to the Cannabis Control Commission.

The State of Colorado recently updated its sales numbers for cannabis, and they're continuing to slide. With $119 million in sales for February, it was the lowest month that the State had since February of last year when it earned $113 million. It was also the second consecutive month that total cannabis sales were down.

Oregon has a marijuana supply problem. According to a report from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, updated on March 2, there is nearly 1.2 million pounds of marijuana inventory sitting in the State in what it calls "usable marijuana."

With more recent data, the Canadian Cannabis market forecast has been cut by BDS Analytics.

Price is going to be a key determinant for recreational cannabis users to select legal pot over the supply that they can get from the black market. It's no wonder the black market is winning that battle in Canada right now.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed a bill that would allow medical marijuana use to be expanded to include autism as a qualifying medical condition.

As marijuana legalization has progressed in many parts of the world, cannabis companies have been working feverishly to expand and gain first-mover advantages in many emerging markets, could expanding into Europe this early be a mistake?

For all the hype that's been surrounding legalization in Canada, sales have slowed. Dried cannabis sales of 6,416 kg in October were impressive for a two-week period but that pace hasn't kept up. Here's a look.

Hexo Corp (TSX:HEXO) released its Q2 earnings this week in what the first full quarter of recreational sales. It was the first big test of the recreational market and it was definitely a big success. Sales of over $16 million dwarfed the $1 million in revenue that Hexo had earned a year ago. Even after excise, net revenues were still north of $13 million.

Back in November of 2018, the State of Michigan officially opened for business when its first medical marijuana dispensary opened. Besides a slow first month where sales hit $7.1 million, the State has seen sales average over $11 million since then.

National Access Cannabis Corp. is one of the bigger retailers and earlier this week the Company provided an update on its operations. Since legalization back in October, National Access Cannabis Corp (NAC) has generated sales of more than $20 million through its retail network. Previously, The Company had said it had done a little over $10 million in the first 80 days, and now with 140 days gone by, that number has doubled.

The rave reviews that cannabidiol (CBD) has been earning from many patients has not gone unnoticed. Many athletes use CBD, including those that play in the National Hockey League (NHL). And recently, the NHL Alumni Association agreed to work with cannabis giant Canopy Growth Corp. to conduct one or more studies relating to its use.

It's not hard to find anecdotes of how CBD has helped provide patients with pain relief, normally after exhausting all other options. The problem, however, is that there isn't a lot of data behind those claims and finding hard facts and numbers on the effectiveness of CBD is very difficult.

An investment bank out of New York thinks that in a decade the cannabis industry could grow to be $130 billion. Jeffries Group, the company behind the estimate, is relying on assumptions that we'll see legalization progress around the world.

The Colorado Department of Revenue recently updated its numbers for the past year, and 2018 finished with sales of $1.545 billion, which is only 2.5% up from 2017. However, marijuana sales since legalization have now totaled more than $6 billion.

Last week, a report from Statistics Canada came out suggesting that despite the hype surrounding legalization, we haven't seen a whole lot more cannabis use. Let's break down the results and see what they tell us about the industry.