'It's Like Christmas': Pot Shops Unable To Celebrate 4/20 Due To Coronavirus
MILLIS (CBS) - On 4/20, a day where marijuana is unofficially celebrated by some, the parking lot at CommCan in Millis was near empty.
Pot shop owners, siblings Ellen and Marc Rosenfeld, say they've lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in business since the state deemed recreational sales non-essential during the coronavirus crisis.
"It's the biggest day of the year, you wait all year, it's like Christmas for a normal retailer," CommCann President Ellen Rosenfeld said. "To lose 4/20, the hundreds of thousands I said a minute ago - you can probably double that."
Governor Charlie Baker's order was backed by a local judge over concerns that cross-state sales could further spread the coronavirus.
Commcan owners say many of their customers rely on pot, even if they don't have a medical card.
"People with federal jobs or federal benefits they don't want to put those things at risk - other people just don't want to be on a list," CommCann CEO Marc Rosenfeld said.
And because marijuana is still illegal on the federal level, they don't qualify for payroll or small business loans.
"What am I doing every day now? I'm trying to spread my 10% of money to cover all my expenses," Ellen Rosenfield said.
The owners say the most frustrating part of this whole thing is, like many businesses, they don't know when they can re-open recreational sales. That decision is up to Governor Baker.
