As the U.S. economy slowly starts to reopen, including the legal cannabis industry, reports say sales are a mixed bag. After an initial surge at the start of the pandemic lockdown, businesses in states where pot is legal—either medical or recreational or both—have reported a subsequent drop off in purchases. While consumers may have simply stocked up on enough weed to relieve shelter-in-place anxiety, analysts say the slowdown in tourism was partially to blame for the slump in states including California, Washington and Oregon, where sales had initially been robust.
Most states allowed pot stores to stay open during the pandemic as "essential" businesses. For pot shops that are struggling, however, don’t expect any help from bankruptcy protection laws. The Justice Department says it will prevent struggling cannabis businesses and the nearly 250,000 workers in the industry from accessing bankruptcy and its financial safety net to weather the coronavirus-related downturn, because that would be a violation of federal criminal law.
And finally, health officials across the country are voicing concern about the appearance of a new “designer” opioid that is circulating among substance users, and might be the cause of a spike in overdose deaths. The drug—which is pressed into counterfeit opioid pills—is derived from a powerful analgesic opiate that has been detected in the blood of people who have died, where it was mixed with cocaine.