Why Canada's cannabis bubble burst
More than a year ago, Canada made recreational cannabis legal. So why are people still buying it on the black market?
Sunday, December 29, 2019
When Canada legalised marijuana just over a year ago, it seemed like anyone who was anyone wanted to break into the market. The media nicknamed the frenzy Canada's "green rush", as investors like Snoop Dogg and the former head of Toronto's police force clamoured to get a slice of the multi-billion-dollar-pie. But like the gold rush of the 1850s, the lustre would soon fade, leaving prospectors in the dust. "It didn't take a rocket scientist to recognise that these stocks were trading on fantasy and not on fundamentals," says Jonathan Rubin, CEO of New Leaf Data Services. In Canada, he says, the rollout has been disappointing. "They haven't had the growth in sales and earnings that they've envisioned," he said. "I don't want to say it's a failure, but there's definitely frustrations."
