5 key questions regarding the weed industry and one more potential COVID shutdown

This article originally appeared on Cannabis.net and was republished with permission.

The world is worried again today as a new strain of COVID dubbed Omicron worries the World Health Organization (WHO) and travel restrictions resume in several countries. As CNBC sums up the WHO’s latest health announcement on the new strain of COVID:

The World Health Organization assigned the Greek letter omicron to a newly identified variant of Covid in South Africa on Friday. The UN health authority recognized the strain, first referred to as line B.1.1.529, as a worrying variant.

Photo by Fiordaliso / Getty Images

Health professionals are deeply concerned about the portability of the Omicron variant because it has an unusual mutation constellation and a different profile than other worrying variants.

“Omicron, B.1.1.529, is mentioned as a variant of concern because it has some questionable properties,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical director for Covid-19, in a video published on Twitter. “This variant has a large number of mutations, and some of those mutations have some worrying properties.”

In a true silver lining story, marijuana legalization and technological innovation boomed during the initial COVID-19 shutdown. Many states have declared cannabis an “essential item”, similar to alcohol, and this has allowed massive advances in many areas in roadside collections, online ordering, and even delivery services.

Many states have legalized cannabis faster than they would have without a COVID pandemic, and many people tried cannabis for the first time during the pandemic months. But what about a second shutdown or a more seriously restrictive facility than now? What if Omicron creates a second “stay at home” agenda in some states?

Let’s look at 5 questions about Omicron and the marijuana industry, and see what happens when it poses a serious threat to the ongoing economic recovery.

Does a serious variant of COVID like Omicron help or harm the cannabis industry?

The first waves of COVID helped the cannabis industry a lot, or at least brought legalization, technology and consumer market share light years into the future after cannabis was classified as an “essential item”. A second wave of shutdowns, while harming the current aspects of the marijuana industry, which is facing the same problems as non-cannabis companies, would likely help it overall.

RELATED: How Supply Chain Issues Have Affected the Cannabis Industry

While cannabis companies can’t get enough workers and, like everyone else, have supply chain problems, a second shutdown – and the massive bills that would come with aid payments – would only put pressure on the federal government to find new tax revenue and jobs.

If you think the first financial outflow was bad for the state coffers and budgets, wait to see what a second round of stimulus checks and COVID aid would mean for the state’s rainy daily allowances. At some point bills have to be paid, and the higher the debt, the greater the pressure to find new tax revenues and new jobs.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya via Unsplash

The cannabis industry would be the first choice for government legalization not only for tax revenue but also for future job creation. Same story as before, only states are deeper and more in debt to the federal government to generate tax revenue and jobs.

Would a shutdown of Omicron help or affect federal legalization efforts?

Sad to say, but another major COVID outbreak would aid legalization efforts if the first two years of COVID offer any clues. Not only is taxation and job creation important, as noted, but technological advances would almost certainly be made if people had to “stay in place”.

RELATED: US cannabis industry ‘thriving’ despite (or because of?) The general economic downturn

Delivery apps, online ordering, and the dare to say it, mailing cannabis and sending people home so they don’t run out could be some kind of emergency arrangement between the rule of law and the federal government. Is it likely No, but there is no question whether the federal government wants to keep people as far away as possible for a few months? Secure. This would open federal legalization to an almost contentious point once THC crosses a state line and can be shipped by UPS, Fed Ex, and the USPS.

Would Omicron do more research on the medical benefits of cannabis in relation to the COVID virus?

Yes and no. While most research shows that cannabis can help deal with the side effects of a COVID society such as stress, anxiety and sleep problems, there is no “Magic Bullet” study that shows cannabis is an important factor in combating or reducing it the virus is. Potency or virality. For example, cannabis does not cure or prevent the COVID-10 virus from infecting a person. As more people turn to cannabis instead of alcohol, more research needs to be done into how cannabis helps or harms COVID patients. Dr. Kovelchuk’s study of how cannabis can stifle the “cellular doors” that the COVID-19 virus needs to spread requires more research and peer review on the subject itself.

How About An Omicron Tip Bad For The Marijuana Industry?

As in all industries, a new shutdown will wipe out any job growth or training of workers across the country, including the cannabis industry. Producers and processors would urgently need workers to bring the products to the pharmacy.

Transportation problems already plaguing companies like Amazon and Fed Ex would also hit the cannabis industry, as the need for drivers of all kinds has currently generated strong demand from companies like the USPS and Fed Ex to delivery services like Uber Eats and Lyft.

Photo by Bruce Bennett / Getty Images

While workers in the cannabis industry could be viewed as essential, the industry would face the same challenges as other essential service providers, such as attracting and retaining employees during a pandemic.

What would be the ultimate best-case scenario for the cannabis industry with a new Omicron shutdown?

As wild as it may sound at the moment, cannabis is considered an essential item and massive problems in the supply chain are forcing the federal government to de facto legalize cannabis. Approvals enable Amazon to list local suppliers and pharmacies as shop windows on the Amazon website and to send products by post.

While the industry may hear this, Amazon has the delivery infrastructure and expertise to actually set it up and pull it through in a short amount of time. Pharmacies could have a storefront on Amazon just like any other company on Amazon, and the Amazon network of 2,500 DSPs or delivery service providers that operate nearly 125,000 Amazon-branded vans and trucks in the US could deliver cannabis to almost anyone in the US Rule of law that wanted it.

Truck competition and efficiency would require UPS, FedEx, and the USPS to have equal rights, hence full legalization that looks very similar to the Republican plan to legalize marijuana at the federal level.

Yes, Amazon would be in the cannabis business, but you would have full marijuana legalization in America.