Coronavirus has brought so many aspects of what we consider a “normal life” to a screeching halt. From temporary inconveniences like restaurants and retail stores closing or only accepting to-go orders for months, to hindrance on our favorite pastimes like mainstream sports and concerts with no attendance allowed, to more permanent and devastating events, such as small and large businesses all over the country shutting their doors forever because they just cannot afford to remain open.

When it comes to the cannabis industry during the coronavirus pandemic however, an interesting dichotomy has presented itself. Where cannabis has already been legalized, business is booming! Where it has not, or where bills towards legalization are still in the works, progress has slowed nearly to a stop. Resources attribute this to several factors, two of the major ones being that the legislation surrounding the pandemic has taken a priority and that a perfectly divided Chamber in 2020 made it nearly impossible to pass anything.

For obvious reasons, the governing body has been focussing most of their time and attention on passing coronavirus relief legislation. I think we can all agree that getting life back to “normal” as quickly and safely as possible is a priority for all of us. However, considering the rate that marijuana legalization progressed over the course of 2020, I think advocates can also agree that for states aiming towards legalization, the industry has become frustratingly stagnant.

Referring to the MORE Act and the STATES Act, vice president of government affairs at Smart Approaches to Marijuana, Garth Van Meter said, “prospects for either bill now look grim… I don’t know how many people have the bandwidth to do this while… coronavirus is top of mind.”

Optimistically speaking, a slow year of legislation has given upcoming entrepreneurs in the industry more time to prepare for marijuana legalization. Pessimistically speaking, original political projections had full legalization of marijuana set for the end of 2019 and we are still far from that. Time will tell how the progress of both coronavirus and legalization of cannabis play out.