By John Shearman, Applied DNA Sciences

When the COVID-19 pandemic started to ramp up in the U.S. last March and stay at home orders were being put in place, medical cannabis patients took notice.

I saw it firsthand with my wife who stocked up for three months, not knowing what she was in for and wanted to make sure she had her treatments, just in case dispensaries were closed down. She was not alone, it has been well documented that this stocking upsurge took place and sales increased dramatically over a few months.

But many of these businesses did not close during the shutdown and it was a big milestone that several state governments declared medical dispensaries essential. This was a big statement to make for an emerging new industry that has been saddled with controversy over the years.

Prior to COVID-19, the industry was already going through a reset in late 2019. The large players overextended themselves globally with huge capital investments in facilities and then oversupply hit the market, prices started to decline and the anticipated demand to pull CBD products did not materialize. Add COVID-19, and you have the perfect storm to amplify the reset button.