Recent quarterly results from Molson Coors Brewing Co. (TSX:TPX.A)(TSX:TPX.B)(NYSE:TAP) and Anheuser Busch Inbev NV (ADR) (NYSE:BUD) have indicated a continuation in the recent trend of a softer North American beer market. Is this indicative of a potential shift in changing consumer preferences and the more widespread adoption of recreational cannabis as a substitute for alcohol products? If so, what are the potential implications on the alcohol and marijuana markets? People are drinking less beer in North America First-quarter results out of two of North America’s largest alcohol beverage makers show an alarming trend in what appears to be a slowdown…

The marijuana market

Who’d have thought, in around 1972 when some of your school acquaintances may have been getting busted, that in 2018 we’d be talking about the outlook for EBITDA among producers and sellers of legal marijuana.

Even those who later ventured into financial services and accounting probably didn’t think they’d see the day when they were analyzing pot stocks and projecting earnings before interest taxes, depreciation and amortization.

(Just the word amortization might have made them giggle.)

But here we are, decades later, with Canada’s Liberal government aiming for legalization this summer, with a strong outlook for a new marijuana industry.

Like the rest of the pot stocks, Aurora Cannabis (TSX:ACB) hit its highs back in January, only to tumble almost as quickly in February while trading sideways ever since.

Not a surprise, says Elliott Fishman of Scotia Wealth, who says that none of the moves so far in the cannabis space make much sense and that we’ll have to wait for the reality of rec legalization before some level of rationality takes hold.

This week, Aurora announced its third quarter fiscal 2018 financials, posting revenue of $16.1 million, a 211 per cent increase over last year’s Q3, to go along with a net loss of $20.8 million.

CEO Terry Booth says the company’s revenue growth has been exceptional, even before Aurora’s ambitious expansion plans are brought to fruition.

Why videos focused on home cultivation and cannabis activism are disappearing from the platform.

‘This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated.’ 

Imagine seeing that frustrating prompt on videos you’ve hosted on your channel for several years, perhaps even a decade, without notice—or worse, that your channel and the hundreds of hours worth of video content you’ve uploaded have been completely removed.

It's a cold reality cannabis vloggers and content creators are facing as a recent crackdown on weed-related material slowly decimates channels while disappointing their subscribers. 

One stock that has been in bounce mode in recent action is MYM NUTRACEUTICALS ORD (OTCMKTS:MYMMF). The jump comes in the wake of the stock’s break down through a key support level last week. This is a very interesting pre-revenue player in the Canadian cannabis patch. The company is working with a strong balance sheet and looking to establish larger scale operations, meaning that the essential work here is as much about regulatory issues as anything else.

66 out of 371 companies currently listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange have cannabis-related businesses.

The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE), an alternative stock exchange in Canada, has partnered with New York-headquartered the OTC (over-the-counter) Markets Group to offer early-stage companies a new initial public offering program in North America, and they are setting their cap at Israeli startups.

With legalization of recreational marijuana just around the corner, it's important for employers to be prepared and to know where they stand.

The impending legalization of recreational marijuana presents challenging and unchartered territory for many employers in Canada. The forthcoming Cannabis Act, AKA Bill C-45, raises a number of questions regarding workplace safety and impairment, particularly for jobs that have the potential to place employees in harm’s way.

Here’s what employers need to know ahead of the law changes.

Is marijuana legal in Canada right now?

Shopify wants to dominate online cannabis sales in Canada.

The e-commerce giant recently inked a deal with the government of Ontario to handle online cannabis sales for the provincially-backed Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation.

Loren Padelford, a VP and GM at Shopify who's charged with heading up the company's cannabis push, discussed the company's strategy in an interview with Business Insider.

The small-scale operators banking on a share of Canada’s retail pot business will soon be replaced by a handful of big chains, panelists discussing cannabis legalization said Thursday.

“In five years the real players will move in, maybe Shoppers (or others) … who understand retail and stand to make a lot of money,” said Mitchell Osak, managing director of consultant Grant Thornton’s strategic advisory practice.

“It’s likely you will get a franchise-based system here as well.”

About three-quarters of Colorado’s roughly 450 marijuana stores are now controlled by five companies, although independents remain, said Osak, who has worked with 17 licensed Canadian pot producers.

Canada's cannabis industry has exploded since the Liberals came into power in Ottawa. There are now some two dozen publicly-traded marijuana companies with a combined market value of $23 billion.

But that nascent industry will have to fight for a small share of the profits to be made from cannabis, because provinces will be taking the lion's share, says a new report from CIBC.

Canada's marijuana industry will be larger than the hard liquor market by 2020, but "the provinces will hold all the cards when it comes to distribution," CIBC analysts John Zamparo, Prakash Gowd and Mark Petrie wrote in a report released this week.