• The study found the highest concentrations of cannabis traces in Montreal and Halifax, whose results were between 2.5 and 3.8 times higher than those of Vancouver, Toronto, or Edmonton.
  CBC British Columbia
• Cannabis use appeared to spike seasonally in May, June, and December, though study authors acknowledge those spikes may have been caused by “factors related to the wastewater sampling.”
• Cocaine traces were roughly standard across all cities.
• Meth traces were much higher in both Edmonton and Vancouver than in Montreal, Toronto, and Halifax (in descending order) combined.

Quick Hits

1. Considering the first nine months of Statistics Canada numbers on cannabis economics since legalization, Bloomberg‘s David George-Cosh concluded, “The cannabis black market GDP (market value of all the final goods and services produced) has declined by 21% since cannabis was legalized in Canada in October. Also, the legal cannabis industry’s GDP has doubled since legalization. It’s also almost surpassed the black market in less than a year.”
   Twitter

2. Another Newfoundland REC retailer attacked provincial REC regulations, saying prices on bulk items are too high and it’s unfair that stores can only sell products directly related to cannabis.
   Western Star

• Vape technology has been at the core of major deals involving tobacco companies entering the sector. Imperial Tobacco’s $123M investment in Auxly was largely made on the promise of vape products.
  Bloomberg
• Altria Group, which invested $2.4B in Cronos in December, is in merger talks with similarly-enormous tobacco firm Philip Morris.
  MJ Biz Daily

Quick Hits

1. Ratings agency Fitch warned Canadian banks aren’t going to regain their interest in cannabis investments any time soon.
   Financial Post

2. A GMP Securities analyst said US cannabis companies are underpriced and will soon eclipse Canadian companies.
   Barron’s

• Four20 has six licensed REC stores in Alberta and has 16 more locations it hopes to license as REC stores.
  Calgary Herald

Quick Hits

1. In June, CannTrust was the third most reputable LP in Canada. Today, not so much. Though Australia is far less concerned than Denmark that it may have imported some of CannTrust‘s illicit cannabis.
   MJ Biz Daily, Business Insider

2. Constellation Brands predicted its investment in Canopy cost it USD$54.8M this (current) quarter.
   Canada.com

3. Canopy Growth venture arm Canopy Rivers reported a $3M loss for Q1.
   Bloomberg

• Among their demands, the authors also recommended limiting the number of REC products for sale in Quebec in order to prevent industry from developing products attractive to children.
  CBC Montreal
• They called for packages to include new warnings against pairing cannabis with alcohol, as well as numbers to call in case of excess intoxication.
  Journal de Montréal—In French

Quick Hits

1. MED activists and supporters in the MED industry are pushing to make removing the MED excise tax an election issue.
   Twitter—Cam Battley

2. Spectrum Therapeutics is no longer paying Alberta’s 16.8% provincial excise tax on MED, explaining it only did so for one year to help patients adjust to the new tax.
   Twitter—CFAMM

• BC’s Liquor Distribution Board acknowledged supply problems and delayed provincial and municipal approvals as hobbling that province’s legal REC rollout.
• Unlicensed BC bud is as good as it’s ever been, while consumers have widely panned many legal REC products for poor quality at high prices. LPs may need to work harder to win over legacy buyers.
• Alternately, the numbers might just mean BC needs a lot more stores.

• Upstart LP and aspiring BC craft-REC distributor Pasha Brands hopes as BC reconsiders farm-gate sales, the province’s craft market will explode.
  Straight Cannabis
• In small towns far from population centres, BC’s online cannabis sales are going well.
  CBC British Columbia

Quick Hits

1. Another Canadian got banned from the US after attempting to enter while carrying CBD. US immigration lawyer Len Saunders warned there’d be more cases until the US legalizes cannabis or Canada warns travellers not to bring CBD across the border.
   CBC British Columbia

2. Broken Coast suffered extensive damage to at least one of their drying rooms in a fire at their Cowichan Valley production facility last weekend.
   Cowichan Valley Citizen

• Alberta was followed by Ontario, which sold $121.6M ($8.49 PC), and Quebec, which sold $119.2M ($14.21 PC).
• As of Monday, Alberta has issued 277 REC retail licenses, allowing one store for every 15,550 residents (versus Ontario, which has one store per 596,666 residents). Analysts credit Alberta’s success to widely available retail.
  Global News, GrowthOp

• The data found flower represented 73.3% of legal sales, and pre-rolls captured 18%.
• The most popular package size was 3.5 grams (65.9% of units sold), followed by one gram (31.5%) and seven gram (2.2%).
  Globe and Mail

Quick Hits

1. Saskatoon city council cut the licensing fee for a REC store from $10,000 to $85.
   Saskatoon Star Phoenix 

2. Ottawa is giving Nunavut nearly $1M over five years to train police to catch stoned drivers.
   Nunatsiaq News

• A former Ontario privacy commissioner called the revelation “appalling.”
• An OCS spokesperson defended the program as providing valuable sales information to LPs to help them “evolve and improve their product offerings.”
• Noting the information came as a result of a refusal of an access-to-information request, Trina Fraser said, “The public has every.right.to.know how the OCS is operating, how much it is earning, what it is selling. The secrecy is mind-blowing.”
• Global reporter Patrick Cain said, “No other province we talked to does this. BC said ‘We don’t sell sales data, period, not by region, community or product.’ Same with AB, NB, NS.
  Twitter

Quick Hits

1. Former acting US attorney general Matthew Whitaker signed on as outside council for Toronto CBD firm Alternate Health.
   Vox, MJ Biz Daily
2. Ottawa landlord John Sanders was ordered to partially forfeit a building he partially rented to illicit dispensaries from June 2016 to September 2018.
   Ottawa Citizen

• Among the requirements is legal proof the applicant has possession of the retail space listed in their application. All addresses affiliated with REC Retailer High Life—whose addresses were used in hundreds of applications—appear to have been disqualified for failing to submit required documents.
  Financial Post, Twitter
• The remaining 29 applicants submitted their applications and are being considered for licenses.
• All three locations located at 1982, 1988, and 2008 Commerce Park Drive in Toronto suburb Innisfil were disqualified.
• The application using the address of scofflaw dispensary CAFE was one of those that went ahead to consideration.
  Twitter—Jameson Berkow

• Following the news that 13 of the 42 winners were not eligible for applications, however, the spread of stores in the province’s East Region shifted: Ottawa and its suburbs got three license applications instead of one, while other cities north and east of Toronto got spots as well.
• A Montessori preschool in Toronto’s tony Beaches area complained after a REC retailer was awarded the right to apply for a license four doors away. “I’m really angry that nobody’s considered the age group under six,” said school co-owner Leigh Anne Jacques.
  Globe and Mail
• Critics noted there is has been a pub located between the school and the proposed store since 1981.

• Ontario led in REC retail sales with $25.8M ($1.80 per capita), followed by Quebec with $18.5M ($2.20 PC) and Alberta with $18.3M ($4.24 PC). The legacy market remains strong in BC, which spent only $4.1M ($0.82 PC) on legal REC.
• More than 9,000 Canadians work in the sector, compared with 2,630 in fiscal 2018 and 1,438 in fiscal 2017. Bloomberg

Quick Hits

1. It’s unclear whom you can complain to if you’re sold an empty container of REC. Leafly

2. If you’ve only just now decided to open a REC store, you’re probably going to need to do a lot more than read this how-to guide from Maclean’s.

• Sundial refused to comment for nearly five days, before dismissing the returned product as an “isolated, immaterial matter” with “another licensed producer” that didn’t affect Q2 earnings. MarketWatch
• MarketWatch editor Jeremy C. Owens said 554 kilograms would be “equivalent to 10%” of its quarterly sales.
  Twitter
• Two days before MarketWatch broke the news, the Financial Post reported Sundial had joined the top-10 LPs for sales with $19.3M net revenue in its most recent quarter.
  Financial Post

Quick Hits

1. Consumers don’t seem to be abandoning alcohol for cannabis.
   Global News

2. Quebec health minister Lionel Carmant said he believes no one smoked cannabis during Quebec City’s summer festival concerts featuring Gucci Mane, Diplo, Voivod, Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening, and mysteriously beloved Quebec grindcore act Blasting All Rotten Fuckers (B.A.R.F.).
   Journal de Montréal—In French