As the novel coronavirus (COVID or COVID-19) continues to ravage
the United States, the cannabis industry is feeling the
pandemic's negative impacts despite an initial spike in sales
after cannabis operations were deemed essential under various state
"stay-at-home" orders.1 This article details the most
recent state-level responses activated in California and
Illinois.
California
One month after California Governor Gavin Newsom's proposed
budget2 predicted that California's
legal cannabis industry will face declining sales due to the
pandemic-induced recession, California regulators – Bureau of
Cannabis Control (Bureau), California Department of Food and
Agriculture and California Department of Public Health –
implemented a policy giving
cannabis businesses the ability to defer the cost of their license
renewals by 60 days. In making this determination, the regulators
citied the industry's inability to access pandemic-related
financial assistance from banks or