Hopefully, the COVID-19 crisis will be over soon. This pandemic has changed the cannabis industry in the country in a lot of ways. Medical marijuana is a necessity for a lot of patients so delivery must stay unhampered. Because patients cannot visit dispensaries to buy products, medical marijuana retailers needed to pivot. Fortunately, they did rather quickly to protect sales and ensure the availability of wellness products that patients depend on.

Last year, delivery wasn’t an option in all states with medical cannabis programs. But, because of COVID-19, medical marijuana delivery has become mainstream in legalized states. This leaves many people wondering if the convenience of online order for home delivery will stay after the current global crisis is over. The following are the reasons medical cannabis delivery must become a permanent service:

Give Special Consideration to People with Mental Health Conditions

For some patients with a mental health condition, leaving their house to go to a dispensary can be risky. For instance, those with post-traumatic stress disorder may have episodes that include experiencing high-anxiety symptoms. For serious cases of PTSD, patients may not be able to leave their homes. Symptoms such as fatigue, nausea, and irritability can make engaging with any person outside of the home, terrifying for patients with PTSD. Moreover, treatment-resistant depression can lead to chronic fatigue and make it hard or unsafe for patients to travel outside of their homes.

Let Caregivers Stay with their Patients

For caregivers, leaving the patient they care for is not an option. The legalization of medical marijuana deliveries made a solution for caregivers. They are now able to shop online and get the product delivered. This also means they don’t need to visit a marijuana dispensary. A lot of patients with a chronic or terminal illness have a compromised immune system, which means they can quickly get a life-threatening viral or bacterial infection. And caregivers should not expose themselves to COVID-19 and risk passing the virus to their patient.

Keep Dispensaries Open

While retailers in other industries like consumer goods are closing and laying off workers, cannabis dispensaries are hiring new people. This results from the tendency of people to hoard supplies of marijuana. This started in March when patients were not sure whether marijuana cultivation and manufacturing businesses could continue production during the pandemic. Even the average patient decided to stockpile cannabis for the limit of what the law allows. As a response to this demand, cannabis dispensaries made sure that patients get the wellness products they need. With deliveries, they can stay open, protecting jobs and offering patient care.