In October 2018, Canada became the first industrialized western nation to legalize recreational use of marijuana. This event -- likely still the most important for the marijuana industry to date -- was well received by investors, who saw a golden opportunity to cash in on the projected growth of sales of marijuana products by investing in cannabis stocks.

Unfortunately, once the initial honeymoon phase was over, a slate of issues got in the way of Canadian pot companies, which haven't performed nearly as well as expected. Let's review two of those issues and whether, in light of these developments, it might be worth removing all Canadian pot stocks from your buy list. 

Canadian cannabis stocks are going through a rough patch, as investors are frustrated by the slowdown in pot sales growth, and the companies have largely blamed a slower-than-necessary retail store rollout to directly compete with the well-established underground marijuana market for customers.

Per-gram prices are falling, while market leader Canopy Growth made a $32.7 million provision for restructuring charges, product returns, and price adjustments after struggling to push its oils and capsules, as demand has proven to be much lower than previously anticipated.

Actually, OrganiGram Holdings is facing a similar challenge with its cannabis extracts too and prices are plummeting and channel inventory volumes are spiking, as demand lags supply in the provinces

Canadian Cannabis 2.0 is here! It’s been over a year since recreational cannabis was legalized for adult use in Canada, and with the edibles, extracts and topicals category recently legalized, the market is shifting into what many envision as a new wave of consumption. How will the introduction of these new products impact the market?

Let’s start with Cannabis 1.0.

Marijuana is expected to be the greatest investment opportunity in recent memory, and Wall Street's growth projections show it. Although estimates vary wildly on Wall Street, which we'd expect with an industry that has no legal precedent, most analysts are calling for $50 billion to as much as $200 billion in worldwide annual sales in a decade. Such robust growth would certainly give investors plenty of opportunity to profit.

This growth was expected to be on full display in Canada in 2019. Having become the first country to legalize recreational cannabis in the modern era, our neighbor to the north is providing a blueprint that other countries might be able to follow.

While CBD is no penicillin, it can be used as a supplement in fighting flu and cold symptoms.

We’ve reached that time of year when washing hands and avoiding errant sneezing particles is essential. Cases of the common cold usually begin in August, but no one wants to sick in the stretch between Thanksgiving and New Year’s when parties are abundant and work becomes less so.

Cannabis activist Jack Herer once opined that hemp is the only thing that could save the world. So when the new Farm Bill was written into law last year, many believed it to be the birth of an industry with world-changing potential.   

While they might yet be correct in their beliefs, the national liberalization of hemp has not been without some hurdles. Tightening regulations, lack of infrastructure, and ‘hot’ crops have all contributed to a difficult year for those who have turned their hand to hemp farming. 

Here are some of the main problems plaguing the hemp industry today:

Ten months before cannabis was legalized last October, I asked a question: Where are Black Canadians in the cannabis debate? I sought to stimulate active involvement of Canada’s Black communities in our country’s cannabis conversation while explaining the socio-systemic barriers that might account for why African Canadians were not playing a more prominent role in the public and private developments of legalization.

Despite the country’s shrinking industrial hemp crops — Health Canada figures show production fell from 123,000 acres in 2017 to over 77,

A new study suggests that two-thirds of Canada’s cannabis consumption can be attributed to the top 10 percent of the country’s users.

The multi-institutional study looked at data from Statistics Canada’s 2018 National Cannabis Survey and found that males between the ages of 15 and 34 were “disproportionately represented” in this group of heavy users.

Not quite a shocker, but researchers confirmed suspicions that usage patterns for the drug would resemble those seen for alcohol.

One of the lessons that legalization has taught us again and again is to prepare for an influx of people buying legal cannabis. At least at first, anyway. In the U.S., we’ve seen many instances where dispensaries struggle to keep up with the demand of products for medical and recreational cannabis consumers. But, it appears our neighbors to the north have a problem we’ve seen far less often. Canada was preparing for a huge number of people to be buying legal cannabis – and producers got way ahead of themselves, growing more than the country needs for the year.