CBD manufacturers are prohibited from making any form of health claims, but that hasn’t stopped consumers from educating themselves on the positive effects cannabis might have. BDSA survey data shows the top benefits listed by cannabis-consuming adults were relaxation, stress relief and reducing anxiety. Those benefits are clearly even more important in the age of COVID.

“Consumers are seeking sleep aids, help with anxiety and stress, relaxing,” Lukas says. “All things that people already seek from cannabis.”

In fact, recreational marijuana dispensaries saw distinct spikes in CBD sales during key dates of the COVID crisis. On March 13, 2020 (the day the U.S. officially declared a pandemic), dispensary sales of CBD products were up 44% in Nevada, 62% in Oregon and a whopping 363% in Colorado.

“CBD didn’t take a hit in this,” says Lukas. “It’s actually continuing to grow.”