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Photo by Kevin King/Winnipeg Sun/Postmedia Network

The CEO of one aspiring cannabis retail chain — who asked not to be named, as his business is already in the process of folding — told me that essential status means nothing under the existing regulations.

“How do you hire employees right now? How do you train people if you can’t bring them together? Really, the worst part is that we were kind of right on the doorstep. We have our license, we have an operator license, stores that are in the process of being approved by the regulator. We were literally on the doorstep, but the reality is we cannot go any further,” he said. “I had $5 million lined up three weeks ago to start knocking this stuff out and we were ready to start watching it, but now my guess is we will be completely wound down by mid-April or early May.”

Many other cannabis entrepreneurs, having already spent months suffering battered stocks and weak sales, are in no better shape. “After talking to a number of other folks in the industry, our situation is not unique. It is, in fact, quite normal,” he added. “I know two or three (cannabis entrepreneurs) who are literally on their last 30 days of cash right now.”

Even without the financial perks of essential status, pot companies have been actively supporting government virus-fighting efforts. Cultivators are donating vast quantities of masks and gloves to their local health-care providers and cannabis testing labs are retooling to process COVID-19 tests instead.

The cannabis industry is doing essential work and deserves to be treated accordingly. Doing so will not only help a struggling new sector survive, it also might give some comfort to millions of people at a time when it is clearly needed the most.

National Post

Twitter.com/JamesonBerkow

Jameson Berkow is editor-in-chief of The Rise, the entrepreneurship publication of cannabis venture capital firm Canopy Rivers Inc.