DeVaughn Ward, senior legislative counsel for the Marijuana Policy Project, said the COVID pandemic accelerated the delivery movement with many states deeming cannabis businesses as essential, which enabled them to stay open and offer curbside pickup and delivery. One of the main reasons for that, Ward said, was to provide medical marijuana patients, who may be immunocompromised, the ability to “have safe access to their medicine in a way that didn’t put them in jeopardy.”