The powerful marijuana lobby rolls over the health risks to smokers.
Potheads panicked after California Gov. Gavin Newsom last week ordered all “non-essential” businesses to close and citizens to stay home except to perform essential activities. Over the weekend Mr. Newsom told them to chill and that producing, selling and buying marijuana all qualify as essential.
Cannabis website Weedmaps reported pot orders in California surged to a 12-year and record high last Thursday after Mr. Newsom issued his “shelter in place” order. Orders online across the country had increased by 230% in the prior week as millennials stocked up on marijuana to survive their coronavirus confinement.
But pot retailers begged Mr. Newsom for a dispensation so they can continue to serve customers. United Cannabis Business Association president Jerred Kiloh wrote a letter to the Governor asking that the whole cannabis supply chain be deemed an essential business. If legal shops and growers were forced to close, the industry warned, Californians would instead buy pot on the black market.
Maybe, but then closing liquor shops and bars could also encourage people to set up speakeasies. Yet according to the Governor, a pot run is no different than a trip to the pharmacy: “May I still go out to get my prescriptions? Yes. You may leave homes to obtain prescriptions or get cannabis from a licensed cannabis retailer,” the state explains in a fact sheet.
As for teeth cleanings, eye exams and hair cuts, sorry, those will have to wait until the coronavirus threat passes. If your hair gets shaggy, try trimming it yourself—though perhaps not while you’re high. California’s cannabis concession would be amusing if it weren’t dangerous.
The long-term effects of pot on mental and physical well-being haven’t been well-studied, but research shows that cannabis smoke affects the lungs the way tobacco does. A 2016 research review in the book Advancements in Clinical Research found that pot can cause serious lung disease with increasing years of use and weakens the immune system, leading to pneumonia and chronic bronchitis.
People who are immuno-suppressed or have pre-existing respiratory conditions are most likely to get severely ill with coronavirus. One question worth exploring is if young people who smoke or vape pot and get the virus are more likely to be hospitalized than those who don’t. There’s nothing like an “essential” business that may make people sicker.