Within only the infancy of legalized cannabis’ lifespan, the industry has faced hurdle after hurdle. Besides the exorbitant amount of taxes and fees that canna-business owners must face as opposed to more traditional business, the level of state and federal interference on completely legal and compliant operations cannot be understated. And to check off the last box of every possible disaster that the cannabis industry has had to face in it’s 7-year lifespan thus far, the COVID 19 global pandemic has brought the cannabis industry’s operations to a halt.
Similarly to the gaming industry in Nevada, the Battle Born State’s cannabis operations have had to alter themselves greatly. Following Governor Sisolak’s announcement last Tuesday to ask all “non-essential” businesses to temporarily close until April 16, that left the question open as to if the cannabis industry is considered “essential” given its already legally grey status. Because Nevada is a state with medical cannabis laws and is therefore a medical necessity, dispensaries were initially given the greenlight to remain open at their physical locations.
However, following another more serious order issued on Friday, a far more clearly frustrated Sisolak now ordered those businesses whose essential status was in question to shut their doors to further prevent the spread of the virus. Although because many dispensaries have medical cannabis patients, several alterations have been made to the operation of canna-businesses throughout the state.
As of Friday, all deliveries must act on a delivery only model. Across Nevada, dispensaries are having to adapt to a model of business previously seen mostly from certain Pizza Hut or Domino’s locations. Customers must call an order either to the store or through a number of the online cannabis databases up to 24 hours in advance in some locations and customers are required to purchase a minimum of up to $100 in pre-tax products depending locations. If a dispensary hits its possible capacity of orders for the day, all deliveries will automatically be moved to the next day.
It’s a stressful and unexplored time for the still young industry, and cannabis companies are having to instantly change with the ebb and flow of ever changing regulations and delivery methods.
“The situation continues to evolve,” says Curaleaf Nevada Marketing Director Nicole Silverman, “but Curaleaf Nevada has nimbly and quickly made adjustments to safeguard the health of our customers and team members based on guidance provided by medical authorities as well as our state and local officials. We remain committed to providing safe access to cannabis for our patients and customers while abiding by all public health mandates. In light of the most recent guidance, we are ramping up our delivery capabilities with a goal of activating as soon as possible.”
For MMJ America owner Marques Moore, he describes his operations as “a rollercoaster” since the initial COVID 19 outbreak.
“With the situation being very fluid and regulations changing rapidly,” said Moore, “we had to be flexible and change our operations to ensure we are providing patients products while establishing mitigations so peoples’ health isn’t compromised.
We didn’t have delivery services established so I’m working hard on implementing deliveries now.”
Up north in Reno, dispensaries are facing the exact same struggles with a constantly changing set of regulations both from The Department of Taxation and from public health groups. Manager of Blüm Reno Christine Gamez described in great detail the infinite number of measures taken prior to Governor Sisolak’s order and how drastically different the operations of the dispensary now is.
“Initially, we limited the amount of folks inside and had a curbside service.” Gamez informed. “We had budtenders bundled in the blizzard weather and would meet them car side, show them tablets with menus. The budtenders would then escort them 1 on 1 inside to pay and send them off safely. We also took away the ability to “sniff” the strain samples and removed all products out of our displays eliminating the close patrons leaning over the counters. We do take cards which help with dirty cash flow and we had our staff gloved and masked as needed.”
And since the implementation of the congested 100% delivery system to both medical patients and recreational users alike, Gamez spoke of similar experiences of having to adapt quickly to uncertainties as both Silverman and Moore did.
“This weekend we launched 100% delivery service and all the rest applies, but we are learning daily and doing what we can to provide medicine to as many people as possible during the lack of access.”
To put the magnitude and size of the number of orders received by Gamez’s location and several other dispensaries across Nevada are facing through the delivery only system, Christine spoke frankly.
“This week, we’re running faster than when recreational (legalization) launched.”