Marijuana Dispensaries Called Essential by States but No Love from Feds on the Stimulus

While several legal cannabis states have grouped cannabis sellers in with grocery stores, pharmacies, and healthcare providers, deeming them essential services during the Covid-19 pandemic, the same businesses are not eligible for a piece of the $2 trillion federal stimulus bill, passed last month. As reported by Connect FM, it’s because marijuana is still illegal under federal law that cannabis businesses are being shut out of federal support.

The $2 trillion economic recovery package, passed by Congress and signed by the President last month, included aid for small businesses to keep workers on the payroll and weather losses during this crisis. But small businesses in the cannabis industry, although operating legally in their states, will not see any of that money. Even while being designated as essential services in the midst of state stay-at-home orders, the CARES Act doesn’t “care” about the cannabis industry, on the front lines of a global pandemic, because of archaic federal laws.