Coronavirus: Michigan marijuana retailers among ‘essential’ businesses open amid stay-at-home order

Michigan marijuana dispensaries can keep doing business after the state's stay-at-home order goes into effect Tuesday, multiple news outlets are reporting.

According to WZZM-TV and MLive.com, that's because Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's order, which lasts through April 13, allows "essential" businesses – such as those specializing in health care, child care, food, law enforcement, energy, communication and other areas – to stay open.

The order, announced Monday, is an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus in the state.

In a Monday news release, the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency said that "licensed medical marijuana facilities and licensed adult-use marijuana establishments are permitted to engage in regulated activities as authorized by the license(s) issued."

But marijuana businesses "may only engage in sales through curbside service or delivery; in-person transactions within the licensed facility or establishment are prohibited," the release said. They also "must comply with social distancing requirements for staff within the facilities and establishments," the agency added.

Jamie Cooper, a marijuana advocate, told WZZM that the dispensaries likely can keep operating because they serve hundreds of thousands of people who use the products for "medicinal purposes."

"Medical cannabis is often used for anxiety and depression, and I think a lot of people will be struggling with that anxiety," Cooper told the news outlet.