Amanda stressed curbside pickup “without the ridiculous extra wait” would be most ideal for her and other immunocompromised patients. “I would love to be able to place my order online then drive over to pick it up, but that’s not how the process works [in my state],” she added. “My choices are to either drive for hours to wait for hours and hope they have what I need in stock, or go without. It seems cruel.”
Fortunately, there are dispensaries offering this service to make products more widely accessible to patients. Magnolia, a dispensary in Oakland, California, offers express ordering by phone. While this requires still coming in the storefront, the business has taken steps to implement consumers and staff are able to remain six feet apart from each other.
“People are lonely and they need a human experience,” Debby Goldsberry, CEO of Magnolia, explained to Supermaker over the phone. “If they can find a place that’s safe, where they can keep six feet and actually say hi to somebody, a lot of people want to do that.”
The dispensary, which serves recreational consumers and medical patients alike, also offers curbside delivery, which is beneficial to regulars (like Amanda, for instance) who know exactly what products they need. This required a state emergency order because “usually, all the transactions need to be on camera, which is impossible for curbside,” Goldberry explained. “[They told us] as long as your security guards are supervising, that’s totally fine.”