Ontario online pot purchases jump 600% amid COVID-19 Cannabis purchases rose as much as 600 per cent since the beginning of March in Canada's biggest market thanks to stockpiling by consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic - and demand may be sticking around.
Sales data provided by the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) over the past six weeks - the same period that COVID-19 spread across the country - show legal pot appears to be a more "habitual" purchase than a one-time novelty, according to Cheri Mara, chief commercial officer at the provincial retailer.
While it may be too early to really gauge how COVID-19 will impact legal cannabis sales over the long term, the OCS data provide a highly precise glimpse at how people are consuming cannabis during the pandemic.
Daily online orders hovered in the mid-2,000 range for the first half of last month, and abruptly tripled to 6,042 on March 16, the same day that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Canada would restrict entry at the U.S. border.
Orders averaged just below 5,000 a day until April 3 when they shot to a high of 13,691 - the same day Ontario declared cannabis stores were not an essential business. Those stores were able to re-open four days later but only with curbside and delivery service.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/ontario-online-pot-purchases-jump-600-amid-covid-19-pandemic-data-shows-1.1422369