How COVID Has Changed the Landscape
The rise of COVID and it’s reshaping of the world answered a big question that many in the cannabis industry had. That is:
Is cannabis recession-proof?
The general consensus before COVID was that the cannabis space was more than capable of surviving a recession. COVID has, for the most part, provided enough data to show that the space is not only recession-proof, but pandemic-proof as well while this isn’t necessarily the case for many other industries.
The alcohol industry, for example, has done well in some avenues such as:
- Direct-to-consumer
- Delivery
- Retail
While the alcohol industry may be showing strength in some areas, it is showing weaknesses in others. During the pandemic (separate from a recession) the alcohol industry lost a significant portion of revenue streams without having commercial businesses open. Cannabis, on the other hand, never ran into the same fate because you can’t consume cannabis commercially or publicly. It’s meant for a private consumption setting, which benefited the industry and made it perfect for a pandemic or recession setting. There is now comfort around the data to show:
- The industry is strong
- The industry works
- The industry is now essential