f you’ve been calling up your same dealer for over a decade, who offers potent, skunky weed for $5 a gram, why would you bother switching over to Canada’s new regulated cannabis market?

That’s a question industry players should have focused on when the Cannabis Act passed on Oct. 17, 2018, according to Michael Armstrong, an associate professor at Brock University.

In those early days, the professor says corporate cannabis was too busy bragging about square meters of growing space rather than zeroing in on what consumers actually want: cheap, quality weed.

Looking back on covering legalization and its evolving cannabis culture for the last three years, it’s tough to choose a single anecdote that best illustrates why I do so much cringing behind the scenes.

As Canada and the U.S. work to get their cannabis industries back on track, several marijuana stocks have been highlighted for a potential rebound. In the wake of the coronavirus, we have seen demand only continue to go up in the face of adversity. But, as marijuana stocks work to face increasing demand, only a few companies have been deemed as having a large amount of future potential. In both Canada and the U.S. we have seen companies work to up the supply of cannabis that they are producing.

“This is a lot harder than anything we’ve ever done.” 

This is a common refrain among our clients about the months-long cannabis licensing process. These are not newcomers to the business world, either—they're serial entrepreneurs who are stepping into the cannabis industry well-prepared and equipped. But little could prepare them for the realities of the expensive and complex process of applying for cannabis business licenses. Although these clients ultimately won licenses, it required a lot more work than they expected.

For years, marijuana stocks were viewed by investors as the greatest thing since sliced bread. With the legal pot industry generating $10.9 billion in worldwide sales in 2018, and Wall Street suggesting that annual global sales could hit $50 billion to $200 billion by 2030, investors figured they had a surefire winner on their hands.

According to market intelligence firm Prohibition Partners, cannabis could be better positioned to handle the crisis than other industries after having been declared an essential good in Canada and the U.S. 

The coronavirus pandemic has dealt a severe blow to the global economy, plunging countries into recession amid lockdowns designed to stop the spread of the disease.

Among the hardest-hit industries are the travel, retail, and restaurant industries, but other sectors haven’t been spared either by the crisis that could take years to recover from.

The first week of June arrived in America as states struggled to “reopen,” with retailers and other types of vendors taking cautious steps toward the second phase of Federal and state officials’ plans for kick-starting the U.S. economy.

At the same time, the death of African American man George Floyd on May 29 ignited nationwide protests against police brutality and supporting Black Lives Matter, among other civil rights groups.

The Canadian cannabis industry is asking Ottawa for relief in paying regulatory fees to the government to help distressed pot companies weather the current pandemic this year. 

The National Cannabis Working Group, an offshoot of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, has asked the Canadian government to excuse a regulatory fee payment — which is equal to 2.3 per cent of a pot company's annual revenue — over the next three fiscal quarters to help support a post-COVID recovery for pot firms. 

What if I told you about a retail business opportunity that had one billion dollars in sales in Canada in 2019 in a new market where sales are projected to nearly double in 2020?  What if I also told you that the product you’d be selling is used by 18% of Canadians and that new user adoption is growing dramatically, particularly among Canadians 45 years and older, who comprise about one-half of new users. You’re in, right?

Now, what if I said that because of federal and provincial regulations, you couldn’t advertise or promote your products in a traditional sense and your storefront windows had to be blacked out so nobody could see the products you’re selling? To pedestrian and vehicle traffic, your store might appear to be closed. Still interested?

Marijuana stocks saw a good rise in May. Higher demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic led to increasing sales. Many cannabis companies reported good quarterly numbers last month—a recovery in the sector. Cannabis 2.0 products continue to launch, which could be the turnaround factor. The Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences ETF, which tracks the North American cannabis industry, rose 20%, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF rose 7.6% in May. Let’s take a look at how the marijuana sector performed last month and what you can expect in June.

Marijuana companies showed good revenue growth

May was an earnings month for many cannabis companies. Notably, US cannabis companies showed better revenue growth than their Canadian peers.