Marijuana dispensaries remain open as essential business

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Businesses around Santa Barbara, California and the United States are closing during the COVID-19 health emergency. Only those deemed essential are allowed to remain open.

Among these essential businesses are medical marijuana stores. The Department of Public Health said dispensaries are considered medically essential, like pharmacies.

Farmacy Santa Barbara is open Saturday and is only allowing three customers into their store at a time. They have "X"s on the walkway in front of their store to help people maintain proper social distancing.

The operations manager said on Sunday they will change their distribution to pre-sale only. Customers will have the option to pick-up in store or have it delivered to them.

Coastal Dispensary is also open. Their director of public affairs, Devon Wardlow, said she's happy dispensaries we allowed to remain open. “A lot of members of our community utilize cannabis to address many ailments ranging from anxiety to pain.”

Both Farmacy and Coastal Dispensary have made new changes to their locations. They’ve spaced people out waiting to enter their dispensary, doing extra cleaning around the store and even stopped letting the customers smell the product before buying it.

“We want to ensure that we’re doing everything that we can to provide a safe environment where they can come and get the medicine that they often rely on,” said Wardlow.