In Statistics Canada's latest monthly domestic retail sales update, the government's official numbers cruncher revealed that cannabis sales rose by 19% on a month-over-month basis in March to $181 million Canadian (US$130 million). That gain contrasted dramatically with a relatively pronounced decline in overall retail sales in the country of nearly 8% in the same timeframe.
Much of this, it has to be said, is likely due to "stocking up" behavior among cannabis consumers. March is when mandatory business shutdowns necessitated by the the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus began in many locations, Canada included. People tended to buy large amounts of goods that would sustain or otherwise help them in the isolated circumstances dictated by stay-in-place measures.
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