While grocery stores and pharmacies throughout the United States struggled to stock their shelves during the early days of the outbreak, many cannabis dispensaries saw inventories sharply decline for a different reason. Customers feared those businesses would be deemed nonessential and closed indefinitely.
But when state and local governments began issuing stay-at-home directives, many communities chose to include cannabis dispensaries alongside
supermarkets and drugstores on lists of businesses allowed to remain open.
"The primary reason cannabis businesses should be declared as essential is that there are millions of registered medical cannabis patients and millions more individuals who consume cannabis for medical or therapeutic purposes around the country," according to a statement from the National Cannabis Industry Association.
"It is dangerous and unethical to interrupt their healthcare at a time when nearly all healthcare systems are already severely overburdened or force them to turn to the illicit market to obtain their medicine,” they added.
This new reality in the time of COVID-19 highlights a major shift in America’s attitude towards marijuana and cannabis products. It also shows the enormous power of an industry that has seen double-digit growth for the past decade.
Now that medical and recreational marijuana are deemed essential businesses in the eyes of consumers and state governments, it’s more important than ever that dispensaries, production facilities, fulfillment centers and warehouses protect products and merchandise.
Here’s how leading rolling door manufacturers have created new products that can protect a wide range of these cannabis facilities from forced entry and mob-style attacks.