The coronavirus epidemic continues to spread, and with it, containment measures. These include the closure of businesses that are not essential to the nation. And while tobacco shops in France continue to trade, in the United States, cannabis is considered an essential commodity.
For a large proportion of ganja-aficionados, the notion of confinement doesn’t scare them. Sitting quietly in bed watching TV shows while smoking weed is a familiar and common situation. The real question is one of supply.
Confinement and border closures also mean the end of go-fasts, the end of supply to vendors and, therefore, the possibility of having enough to get through confinement peacefully.
In France, dealers face fines (and more) if they deliver without a certificate justifying their exit. In the Netherlands, coffee-shops were deemed non-essential and were forced to close, leading to impressive queues before the application of confinement.
In the United States, the federal authorities have drawn up a list of establishments that must remain open. However, they left a third category to the discretion of the states, like liquor stores and … cannabis dispensaries.
Several states have now deemed access to cannabis as essential as supermarkets, gas stations, banks and veterinary clinics.
The basic idea is to keep medical cannabis businesses open for public health reasons. Indeed, this type of establishment is not very different from a pharmacy.
This choice was made by 11 states (Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Washington D.C., Minnesota, Oklahoma, New York and Vermont).
However, six states have decided to go even further, deeming recreational cannabis essential!
Unsurprisingly, they include some of the most permissive and libertarian states in the USA, such as Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington, Illinois and Michigan.
However, there are some restrictions on these businesses. They can only sell takeaways (subject to safety measures) or deliveries.
The choice made by the aforementioned states shows something incredible: they consider ganja to be a necessary product on a par with bread or milk, sometimes even more essential than alcohol!
This should reassure many Americans who flocked to dispensaries last week. For example, sales were up 150% in San Francisco, according to cannabis market research company Headset.
Finally, it doesn’t seem so easy to close dispensaries. The mayor of Denver (Colorado) tried to do so on Monday March 23, but ended up backing down in the face of public outcry and, above all, when he saw the huge queues that formed within minutes of the announcement.
Still, there’s something positive to be said for this case. The American authorities have apparently realized that weed isn’t all that dangerous (unlike alcohol, which suffers more from confinement), and that it can even be a lifesaver at a time when citizens are being told to stay at home!
