“The End of the World” was upon us in March 2020 and as schools and shops were shuttering up, long lineups built up in front of cannabis cafes in Amsterdam . In Toronto during that First Wave, it felt like the only place open was the grocery store. That, and the cannabis shops . Somehow, cannabis made it to the list of essentials . In-person visits to your family doctor, did not .

If you take a stroll along Yonge Street and Queen Street in downtown Toronto, you will see the many stores that have been boarded up for good. Likewise, you will also see the many cannabis stores that have surfaced. Mom-and-Pop reinvented themselves during this pandemic.

In December 2020 alone, 83 new cannabis retailers surfaced in Ontario, 22 in Toronto . From June 2020 to October 2020 in Ontario, cannabis sales jumped from $49 million to $84 million . That is a leap of 71%. A glut in the supply of cannabis, coupled with Health Canada loosening its licensing regulations can help to explain the Toronto Star headline: “We’ll have stores on pretty much every block” .

With this in mind, it is no wonder that CBC recently released the following headline: “More Canadians turning to cannabis to help deal with pandemic pressures” . There is such a thing as “out of sight, out of mind”. But if there is a cannabis shop at every corner, this makes it incredibly difficult for cannabis to be out of mind.

It has been the most challenging year known to humankind. Millions have lost their lives, their loved ones and their jobs. The future is plagued with uncertainty. So it should come as no surprise that 20% of Canadians are self-declared cannabis users, a rise of 14% compared to pre-COVID-19 days . And maybe this number is even higher, if we factor in those who do not openly take part in surveys.

Cannabis is a social drug, is it not? Look back on the popular sitcom, “That 70s Show”, and you will see that oftentimes friends would sit in a circle , pass the pot around and “share”. If the provincial government is ordering us all to stay at home and to not mix with other households, how then can we expect Ontarians to be so obedient in light of the over-abundance of pot at their readily disposal? Are we to be that naïve and believe that a stressed Torontonian is going to sit at home and inhale all by their lonesome? I understand that having the cannabis shops remain open deflects illegal street dealers and I also understand that cannabis is not just for recreational use, but confers medicinal therapy to the terminally ill.

But if we are to truly adhere to social distancing measures, I doubt that cannabis will be the conduit to get us there.

Photo credit: Ricky Castellvi