WEED FIRMS SEE LOCKDOWN BOOST

CALIFORNIA: Cannabis sales are touching new highs as customers across the United States 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% and medical marijuana sales rose 41% from the same period last year, figures obtained from cannabis point of sale and data platform Flowhub show.

Several US states and Canadian provinces have taken steps to curb the fast-spreading coronavirus by issuing stay at home orders, restricting business operations, or closing down borders as death toll in both countries approaches 600

While many businesses have been ordered shut, cannabis stores have been listed as essential services and allowed to remain open. In Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, online sales on the government-run Ontario Cannabis Store’s (OCS) website have soared over the last two weeks, OCS director of communications Daffyd Roderick, said.

For example, last weekend’s orders were more than twice as high as only two weeks ago. In Nova Scotia, which on Sunday became the latest province to declare coronavirus emergency, cannabis sales spiked 76% last week, according to the province’s liquor commission. Fears of months of supply disruptions were boosting Canadian sales, Stuart Titus, CEO of California-based Medical Marijuana Inc told Reuters.