Medical marijuana is essential. According to Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf’s executive order and Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney’s list of restrictions on business activity, cannabis is just as essential as food and toilet paper amid the global coronavirus pandemic.

In mid-March, when both leaders mandated the closure of all non-essential and non-life-sustaining businesses to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, cannabis dispensaries were allowed to continue serving the more than 180,000 registered cardholders in the state’s medical marijuana program.

As the number of cases of COVID-19 continues to increase across the state and stricter guidelines have limited even food businesses to delivery or pick-up only, medical marijuana dispensaries have begun bringing everything from dry leaf and tinctures to topicals and vapes to patient’s vehicles and homes.

Local dispensary owners, like Blythe Heustis, say they’re already seeing an uptick in sales thanks to the essential business designation. Huestis, the president of Philly-based cannabis company Beyond/Hello and vice president of retail operations for the global cannabis company Jushi Holdings, says she was thrilled that the state allowed dispensaries to continue serving their customers. [Read more at Philadelphia Magazine]