I don’t like spin, and I try to avoid it in my professional life as a communicator. There is usually a (relatively) authentic way to get through a business challenge without spinning up a neon frothy cotton candy of distraction and obfuscation around a challenging kernel of truth.

There have been a heck of a lot of Corporate Updates from cannabis companies recently, trying to square the circle of business continuity uncertainty that is more visually represented by a downward spiral of doom. 

So, cannabis companies have been challenged by the ongoing strength of the illicit market; by regulatory handcuffs around marketing, packaging, branding; by a tightening capital market; by this, that, and the other. All true, all challenging and potentially avoidable with a little more luck and commitment.

Yet, not one licensed producer (LP) has admitted to any error in their planning and capital spend. No-one has said:

“We got a bit high on our own supply. Sorry.”

Even though nearly all the original management teams have been turned over and the ‘growth’ leaders have been purged, remarkably, the replacement management and existing Boards have thrown no-one under the bus, to say

“It was HIS FAULT! We have now calmed down and understand how to do this in version 2.0 of our company…”

In the last couple of week, a new, ready made excuse has come to the fore, pandemic, COVID19. How fortuitous.

We are not laying off workers because we need to cut costs yet again because our SG&A is still too high. No! We are laying them off in order to enforce physical distancing rules (even though many of the workers basically work in hazmat overalls all day anyway.)

The fact that we have enough existing inventory to service their existing  provincial supply contracts has nothing to do with why we are shuttering our production facilities for the next 3 months!

What’s next?

This Much We Know.