Expectations for Canada’s so-called “Cannabis 2.0” market have been further tempered as one analyst pegs first-year sales of those products at a fraction of previously-released forecasts.

RBC Capital Markets cannabis analyst Douglas Miehm said in a report to clients Tuesday he expects sales of vapes and edibles in Canada to reach about $250 million this year amid a lag in new cannabis retail openings across the country. In his forecast, Miehm pointed specifically to Ontario where 180 outlets are set to open by the end of the year, and an apprehension toward vape devices following a health scare from those products last year.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that the category could face an uphill battle in the first year of 2.0 product launches,” Miehm said.

It's pretty incredible what a difference a year can make.

At this time last year, cannabis stocks were flying high, and the expectation had been that most brand-name companies would push toward recurring profitability by the end of the year. Of course, hindsight being what it is, we know this didn't happen. High tax rates in select U.S. states, persistent supply issues in Canada, and a resilient black market weighed heavily on the cannabis industry in 2019 and pushed a number of popular pot stocks to two-year lows.

However, there may be light at the end of the tunnel.

Though a lot of marijuana history has been made in recent years, most of it can be attributed to Canada, which became the first industrialized country in the modern era to green-light adult-use cannabis sales in October 2018.

Despite the launch of recreational pot sales not going as planned -- marijuana sales totaled only about 1 billion Canadian dollars (approximately $765 million U.S.) in the trailing 12 months since Oct. 17, 2018 -- Wall Street analysts still believe that Canada could be generating in the neighborhood of $5 billion in annual sales from weed by 2024. This provides a long and bountiful runway for the Canadian pot industry to blossom.

Cannabis retailers say the appetite for pot-infused edibles is outstripping the supply — and the provincial distributor can’t say when that will change.

It’s a replay of what occurred a year ago when logistical and regulatory hurdles created a shortage of cannabis in stores, a bottleneck that led to a six-month halt on new pot shops being approved by regulator-wholesaler Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis.

“This was definitely to be expected in a brand new industry,” said AGLC spokeswoman Heather Holmen.

The difference between cannabis prices on the illicit and legal markets in the fourth quarter of last year widened slightly from the prior three-month period, according to new figures from Statistics Canada published Thursday.

The average price of cannabis in the illicit market during the fourth quarter of 2019 was $5.73 per gram, slightly higher than the $5.65 reported in the prior quarter but below the $6.44 mark tallied in the year-earlier period, data from StatsCan showed in its quarterly release of crowdsourced pricing information.

The average price of legal cannabis purchased by Canadians in the fourth quarter was $10.30, edging higher from the $10.12 observed in the prior quarter and up from the $9.69 in the fourth quarter of 2018, the data showed.

Finding edibles in Calgary isn't a casual, chill affair. The newly launched way to ingest legal cannabis is flying off shelves across the city.

Marijuana edibles became available in some stores across the city  more than a week ago. And for the first time since legalization, stores began to stock shelves with gummies, chocolates, cookies, mints and cannabis teas.

And, of course, it's sparked some curiosity.​

But getting your hands on edible product is easier said than done.

Mylann Doell, manager at Queen of Bud in Sunalta, says if you aren't one of the first 100 customers to walk through the doors on delivery day (Monday), you've missed out.

Everyone has an edible story these days. Your uncle, your college roommate, Seth Rogen. It always involves some variation of the following: You consume the edible and nothing happens for an hour. Cautious, you wait an extra 30 minutes or so. Finally, worried that you consumed too low a dosage, you pop another gummy or chocolate or whatever. Suddenly, you’re uncomfortably high and it’s only going to get worse.

Before you pop that delicious looking treat into your mouth, here’s what you need to know about consuming edibles for the first time.

What a difference a year makes.

Around this time in 2019, the cannabis sector was booming. Investors wanted in and stock prices were skyrocketing.

Today, share prices have tumbled and analysts are forecasting "many" bankruptcies by the end of the year. Just last month, two Canadian companies, AgMedica and Wayland, were granted creditor protection. 

Some producers are looking for an exit, even if it means being bought by their competitors. Others looking to beef up their cash reserves are offering to sell off equipment and greenhouses — at a discount.

"But in most cases, those are assets you don't want to take on. They're not efficient," said Greg Engel, chief executive officer of Organigram, a cannabis producer in Moncton, N.B.

When recreational cannabis was legalized in Canada in 2018, some imagined the country would become a utopia for weed-lovers: Canadians could be sparking up doobs with impunity, drunk — or stoned — on the fact that they can do whatever they liked with the once-prohibited plant.

Not exactly. The Cannabis Act didn’t legalize cannabis in all its forms; it changed the way the plant was regulated. Thus, there are still a significant number of cannabis laws and bylaws that, when it comes to enforcement, range from largely frowned-upon by police to straight-up illegal – each with its own set of potential consequences.

It seems that whenever a new recreational cannabis market rolls out, reports of exaggerated lines, product shortages, and store closures never seem to be far behind.