While many businesses are trying to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, Arizona’s medical marijuana dispensaries are having no issue.
“If you actually drive by our dispensary right now, you’ll see a line that wraps around the building,” said Raul Molina with Mint Dispensary in Tempe to AZFamily.com.
“It’s National Cannabis Day across, basically the world,” Molina added.
Data from the Arizona Department of Health Services (DHS) already showed an increase in marijuana sales in March. April data is not available yet.
According to Arizona DHS, around 17,000 pounds of medical marijuana was sold in the state during March which is up around a ton from February’s figure, and included around 100,000 more transactions than in February.
“Sales for the first two weeks was a little bit like the toilet paper sales at your local Costco,” said Molina. “Everybody came in trying to pick up as much as they could.”
Molina also added that sales at Mint are up around 50%. He says that’s been widespread across the medical marijuana industry in Arizona.
“A lot of different dispensaries have had a shortage of product,” he said. “That was something we didn’t expect. We thought that Arizona had an ample supply to the point where if there was a spike, if recreational happened or something like that, we were gonna be able to handle it.”
“We’ve been adjusting and adapting every day,” Molina said. “Trying to keep everybody with their social distancing, keeping them 6 feet apart.”
Medical marijuana has been deemed essential in the state.
“Taking that giant step forward where it’s recognized as essential product during these times is beneficial to the discussion,” remarked Dimitri Downing, who heads up the Marijuana Industry Trade Association, or MITA.
