COVID-19 has dealt a big blow to many businesses all over the world. However, the CBD industry has boomed during this pandemic.
COVID-19 Impacts on CBD businesses
The stay-at-home orders had significant negative impacts on businesses. The CBD industry faced a crisis because there were issues in legalizing the product. The situation was made more complicated by misinformation in the public domain, which affected CBD products' marketing efforts. Here is how COVID-19 has boosted the CBD industry.
Cannabis is Considered as Critical
When Colorado changed its stay at home policies in late April to include vaping and retail smoke stores, many CBD stores were free to implement pick-up policies. Customers can walk into a CBD store and pick their preferred product without violating the stay at home rules.
The change in policies was vital in increasing CBD sales all over the world. It is also worth noting that CBD products were also included among critical products, which played a significant role in increasing CBD product sales. Including CBD products among critical products also ensured that there was minimal interference by federal authorities, thus creating a healthy environment to market and sell the products.
Stay-at-home rules
COVID-19 has played a significant role in boosting the CBD industry because most CBD products help in treating problems such as anxiety. The pandemic has brought many problems to people, including fear and uncertainty. The stay-at-home rules have made matters worse. That is why the demand for CBD products has increased, and thus, COVID-19 has effectively helped in creating the foundation for the booming CBD industry.
CBD oil is known to help people suffering from depression and anxiety, as explained in this article. The effects of COVID-19 pandemic have had a lot of adverse effects on people. Many people have experienced some kind of loss because of COVID-19. Some have lost their loved ones, while others have lost their jobs. Such people have taken advantage of the classification of CBD products as essential and have been buying them to help them relax.
It is also worth noting that many people prefer to use CBD oil to manage depression and anxiety instead of shots or pills. As a result, the demand for CBD products has increased as people try their best to cope with the problems that COVID-19 has brought along. Another reason why people prefer CBD during this pandemic is the fact that CBD oil has low risks of addiction, and its side effects are few.
Terminally ill patients
The lockdown which came after COVID-19 struck meant that movement was limited, implying that terminally ill people had a hard time getting their prescriptions. Most terminally ill people do not like addictive drugs and tend to avoid prescription drugs if possible. CBD oil gave such people an alternative as COVID-19 continued to bite. Most terminally ill patients stated that they prefer CBD oils to help them in fighting pain, especially muscle and joint pains, and getting better sleep.
COVID-19 treatment options
Recent studies have shown that CBD products can be used to suppress some COVID-19 symptoms, especially for severely ill patients. As the world grapples in search of a COVID-19 vaccine, surprisingly, on the list of potential drugs, cannabis is one of them.
It is a fact that has led to an increase in demand for CBD products. Researchers have stated that CBD has the capability to the body in fighting lung inflammation as well as reducing ACE2 expression. Therefore, it is expected that the CBD industry will continue to expand despite COVID-19 ravaging the planet.
The study was done by researchers from Augusta University in Georgia, United States. Researchers stated that CBD has a positive effect on acute respiratory distress syndrome or ARDS, which is one of the most dangerous symptoms in COVID-19 patients.
Easing COVID-19 Restrictions
Easing COVID-19 restrictions has also played a significant role in increasing CBD product sales. Retail foot traffic increased by 16.7% in May 2020. It is an improvement because there was 65% in retail foot traffic during the same period in 2019.
Final thoughts
Interestingly, the CBD industry seems to be the only industry that is gaining as a result of the crisis brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. While COVID-19 has wreaked havoc to economies and forced some industries to shut down, the CBD industry has continued to grow, and financial analysts show that the industry will continue to grow even much more in the future.
