Three States Tweaked Their Medical Cannabis Policy to Promote Social Distancing and Ensure Safe Access to Medicine
By Bridget Hennessey, Vice President for Government Relations at Weedmaps
If “necessity is the mother of invention,” then innovation must be necessity’s more modest second born. A word whose definition has evolved over time, innovation has come to mean ”the application of better solutions that meet new requirements, unarticulated needs, or existing market demands.”
Never are better solutions more needed than in times of crisis. While our nation and our world grapples with the most significant public health emergencies of our lifetime, our nation’s governors are called on to strike the appropriate balance of public health needs and personal liberty. While navigating these uncharted waters, they must innovate.
For the past several days, governors have been making decisions that impact the lives and livelihoods of every single resident of their states. That includes identifying businesses that are “essential” and those that are not. Defining “essential” is just the first hard task of many to follow.
States that have legalized medical or medical/adult-use cannabis have an additional question to ask: Are cannabis retailers essential?
It’s easy to see why some politicians would want to just say no. Images splashed on television and news sites of customers lined up around the block from their dispensary to buy legal cannabis rival images of panicked consumers lined up at supermarket checkouts, buying cases of bottled water and toilet paper. The message: Stoners are stocking up.
Fortunately, state leaders understand that cannabis is first and foremost medicine, and it plays a critical role in the health and wellbeing of their citizenry.
While developing their business operations plans and social distancing recommendations, leaders in three cannabis-legal states took an innovative approach to limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, while at the same time providing safe and reliable access to cannabis medicine:
- Since Illinois does not allow cannabis delivery services, Governor J. B. Pritzker is allowing curbside sales/pickup to medical cannabis patients through the end of the month;
- Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is also allowing curbside transactions for all licensed dispensaries. The state is also expediting delivery service licensing; and
- In Maryland, where medical cannabis may only be dispensed in a service area accessible solely to qualifying patients and caregivers, Governor Larry Hogan is allowing dispensary staff to deliver medical cannabis orders to patients and caregivers waiting in their car parked in the dispensary’s lot.
These measures, modest to be sure, strike the right balance of current public health efforts and safe access to medicine. The beauty is in their simplicity and practicality. But their impact is significant, as these variances will deter desperate patients and caregivers from turning to the illicit market for medicine. While all three are temporary solutions, crafted specifically to stem possible virus transmissions, they should be considered for permanent practice once the crisis is over. And for governors of other states, as well as emergency managers, public safety and public health officials and even mayors, these actions are easily replicated. No complicated “how-to” is involved.
It is worth noting that both Illinois and Michigan just began legal sales at the beginning of 2020. That they were able to develop and implement their solutions so quickly, while their industry is still in its infancy, is impressive. It would be equally impressive if their solutions were thought about well ahead, and included in their emergency operating plans.
The deliberate consideration and seriousness reflected in the actions taken by these states say something too: It’s time to start taking this industry seriously. It’s not a joke. The fact that a cannabis access issue demanded the attention of three governors, in the midst of an unprecedented public health crisis, is evidence of that. Like “innovation,” phrases like “curbside sales” and “parking lot delivery” have developed a whole new — and legitimate — meaning.
And with all that in mind, it also begs a big, important question: Why, in other states and at the federal level, is it still illegal?
