Cannabis Industry Feeling the Effects of Coronavirus
March 20, 2020 
Photo by Matthew J. Grassi
Like all segments of the controlled-environment industry, cannabis growers and retailers are dealing with the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19). Forbes magazine recently provided an update on how COVID-19 is shifting the ways growers are doing business.
“The medical and pharmaceutical industries will get a boost as governments around the world pour money into their archaic structures,” Michael Sassano, Founder and CEO of Solaris Farms, said in the Forbes article. “As a result, the cannabis industry will be a trickle-down beneficiary as regulations will be loosened and research money flows into all corners of medicine. Cannabis won’t stop a virus, but the ancillary benefits to the nervous system, cancer, and general well-being will not be able to be ignored anymore.”
On the dispensary side, while it is crucial that dispensaries remain able to serve medicine to patients, they must take measures to enforce social distancing to reduce potential patient exposure to the virus. This means states must enact emergency regulations allowing for home delivery where it is not currently allowed, as well as curbside pickup so that patients do not have to step foot inside of the retail store to pick up their products.
Fortunately, many states are already taking these measures, with more expected to follow in the coming days and weeks. Maryland, Michigan, and Illinois regulators have already enacted curbside pickup, while Massachusetts has expanded delivery areas for approved dispensaries and recommended that patients who can afford it buy their full two week supply of two and a half ounces at a time, rather than making multiple trips.
Click here and here to read the complete Forbes articles.
You can also keep up with how COVID-19 is affecting the controlled-environment industry here.
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