TORONTO: Canadian cannabis sales soared at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but not enough to bolster a sector in the throes of reorganisation only two years after the drug was legalised.

Fearing a shortage of the dried flower, Canadians rushed to cannabis stores and websites to stock up ahead of what would turn out to be a three-month government-ordered lockdown to slow the spread of Covid-19.

Sales jumped almost 20% in March from the previous month and continued at a brisk pace through April, according to the government statistical agency.

Classified as an essential service, pot stores remained open while online sales exploded.

Industry expert Bradley Poulos, who teaches at Ryerson University in Toronto, said the pandemic has had a positive effect in that the legal market has actually seen an uptick in business.

“We saw a transfer of some of the illegal (black market) business over to the legal market during this time,” he told AFP.

But, he added, that hasn’t been enough of a boost for an industry in trouble and still struggling to reach profitability.

Canada was the second nation, after Uruguay in 2013, to legalise the recreational use of cannabis.

Canadian firms — including Canopy Growth, Aurora and Tilray — quickly…