Cannabis businesses are essential businesses. The Order defines essential businesses as, among others, healthcare operations (defined broadly to include healthcare suppliers, or any related and/or ancillary healthcare services), stores that provide household consumer products, businesses that ship or deliver goods directly to residents and businesses that supply other essential businesses with the support or supplies necessary to operate.
Alameda County Health Department Supervisor Nate Miley has stated that cannabis businesses are considered essential businesses under the Shelter In Place Order. San Francisco and San Jose officials have also clarified that cannabis businesses, including dispensaries and delivery services are essential and permitted to stay open. Santa Clara is permitting dispensaries to stay open for “medical services, not recreational” while Santa Cruz is allowing cannabis delivery and pick-up services. Thus, cannabis operations up the supply chain are also essential businesses.
Monterey County defines essential businesses as, among others, “any form of cultivation of products for personal consumption or use… including, but not limited to, activities or businesses associated with planting, growing, harvesting, processing, cooling, storing, packaging, and transporting such products, or the wholesale or retail sale of such products” as well as businesses that supply other essential businesses with the support or supplies necessary to operate. Joann Iwamoto, the Cannabis Program Manager for Monterey County, has written in support of the industry’s status and specifically that, “cannabis will be covered by the exemption.”
Cannabis businesses must comply with social distancing requirements, to the extent possible. Cannabis businesses that stay open should immediately take steps to meet the Order’s social distancing requirements, including (1) minimizing the number of employees working in a facility at any one time, (2) ensuring employees are aware of and practicing the social distancing requirements detailed below, and (3) increasing cleaning procedures for high-touch surfaces.
Social Distancing requirements include:
- Keeping at least six-feet away from other individuals
- Washing hands with soap and water for at least twenty seconds as frequently as possible or using hand sanitizer
- Covering coughs or sneezes (into the sleeve or elbow, not hands)
- Regularly cleaning high-touch surfaces
- Not shaking hands
Businesses should consider providing accommodations to the greatest extent possible so that any employees who are sick or particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 (individuals over 65 years old, with serious chronic medical conditions like heart disease, diabetes, lung disease, or with compromised immune systems) can and do stay home.