38 states and the District of Columbia are currently under statewide stay at home orders. While the specifications vary from state to state, the core elements are similar. Individuals are encouraged to stay inside except for essential trips, and only “essential” businesses – grocery stores, pharmacies, banks, laundromats – are allowed to remain open.

But what is an “essential” business? That question is at the heart of a campaign by recreational marijuana sellers in Massachusetts. Under the state order, medical marijuana dispensaries are deemed essential, but their recreational counterparts are not.

The Massachusetts policy makes little sense. Washington, California, Colorado, and several other states with legal recreational marijuana have deemed both medical dispensaries and retail stores “essential.” Liquor stores remain open, so access to mind-altering substances is not the issue either. One might believe that the marijuana from medical dispensaries is only about helping the sick, but most recreational users have little difficulty accessing “medical” marijuana. Thus the MA rule is pandering to prohibitionists.

In addition to this inequity, recreational sellers in Massachusetts face more serious risks than other small businesses. Since marijuana remains illegal under federal law, retail sellers are “ineligible for small business relief funds approved Friday by Congress and also cannot declare bankruptcy.”

Pandemic or not, prohibition is not the answer.