Industrial, retail spaces feeling the pressure of pot shortages

Major cannabis producers and sellers are struggling to keep up with the enormous demand for the plant after it was legalized last month.

Canadians’ craving for the herb was such that shortages have become all too apparent in the few short weeks after October 17.

“The response has been pretty unbelievable,” Canopy Growth Corp. CEO Bruce Linton told Bloomberg. “I don’t think everything will run out but you might not be able to get the identical stuff you got last time.”

The most notable supply-side issue is the sheer amount of time that sales licensing takes, which can take as much as a year.

“We’re biting our nails and I think our shareholders are biting their nails too,” according to Anthony Durkacz, director at Ontario-based producer FSD Pharma Inc. “We want to be supplying.”

FSD has acquired its cultivation license back in 2017, but it has yet to receive its sales license.

The Ontario Cannabis Store reported that it has received 100,000 orders in just the first 24 hours of its operation, defying even the most optimistic projections.

Meanwhile, Quebec’s online and in-store orders almost broke through 140,000 in the first week since legalization. Some locations might even get shut down due to the scarcity of supply, the provincial-owned retailer said.