The first 11 days of March were pretty normal for Takoma Wellness Center.

But on March 12—the day after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, the National Basketball Association suspended its season, and Tom Hanks announced he had coronavirus—the medical marijuana dispensary’s sales doubled typical Thursday numbers, according to Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn, who co-owns Takoma Wellness Center with his wife and son.

Friday the 13th of March was “the largest day ever” for the dispensary, per Kahn: “Usually, the largest day of the year for a dispensary is April 20. March 13 was about 30 percent higher than last year’s April 20. Since then, every day has been more than what we would think of as normal.”

Ngiste Abebe, director of policy for Columbia Care, the company that runs U Street dispensary Capital City Care and has outposts in more than a dozen other states, says that “cannabis sales are up [across the country], especially in the medical space.”

When Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered the closure of all nonessential businesses on March 25, D.C.’s seven medical marijuana dispensaries were listed alongside hospitals and pharmacies as “healthcare and public health operations,” among the essential businesses strongly encouraged to stay open.

But Kahn says that, despite record sales, the city’s dispensaries are hamstrung by regulations that prevent them from offering curbside pick-up and delivery to patients, many of whom are immunocompromised, elderly, or otherwise vulnerable to the coronavirus. Meanwhile, many players in the city’s vast unlicensed market are still delivering door-to-door to provide customers with their marijuana purchases—and they’re seeing a huge increase in sales, too.

D.C.’s medical marijuana program has been in operation since 2013, and has 6,217 registered patients, according to the most recent data from D.C. Health. Any debilitating condition can qualify a person for a prescription, and each of those patients can purchase 4 ounces of marijuana every 30 days.

A 2014 ballot initiative legalized recreational marijuana in the District, but Congressional meddling has prevented the city from dedicating any money towards regulating that market. While the legalization effort touted a “home grow, home use” model, a gray market has emerged through what’s known as the “gifting loophole.” Under D.C. law, people can give away (but not sell) up to 1 ounce of marijuana to anyone over 21 years of age. In lieu of recreational dispensaries, some companies have emerged that sell and deliver various wares—t-shirts, artwork, rolling papers, and more—and then give away marijuana products alongside those purchases.

Joint Delivery is a “smoke shop essentials company” that delivers products like glass pieces and lighters, and “gifts cannabis within legal limits,” says CEO Connor, who asked that we not use his last name over concerns about the changing regulatory situation for businesses. “Our gifting has gone up drastically. We’ve seen numbers that we’ve never even seen before” during the pandemic, he says.

Restaurants and some retail stores are still permitted to offer delivery, even during D.C.’s stay-at-home order. Connor reevaluates on a daily basis whether the business should stay open, he says, and keeps customers informed about their considerations. Every time Joint Delivery sends out a message saying that it isn’t sure it’ll be open tomorrow, that “causes a massive rush of business,” he says.

As long as Joint Delivery keeps delivering, Connor doesn’t see it getting less busy any time soon. “4/20 is around the corner,” he says. “April is a month of already consuming a ton of cannabis, so I don’t see it slowing down. I see it probably picking up.”

Connor says it’s clear that the limitations imposed on medical dispensaries by D.C. Health, like the inability to deliver, create opportunities for other players. “The medical market in D.C. is so whack,” he says. “That’s why there’s just a thriving gray market that exists in Washington D.C. There is a lot of demand for [delivery].”

Kahn says that dispensaries “have been complaining about that for literally years. Because the Department of Health is slow to act and slow to be able to meet patients’ needs, people who go around Department of Health regulations are able to serve people better than we are, and what a shame is that.”

Last Wednesday, amid the public health crisis, D.C. Health extended telemedicine to medical marijuana patients—something that dispensaries have long clamored for. But medical dispensaries want more changes, say Kahn and Abebe. Namely, they’d like to be able to provide curbside pick-up and delivery, at least to their neediest patients (like Maryland has permitted); increase the amount of product a patient can purchase each month; and stop the expiration of medical marijuana cards during the crisis (similar to D.C. Public Library recently unexpiring library cards so residents could access online resources).

D.C. Health said in an emailed statement that its Medical Marijuana and Integrative Therapy Division is “reviewing best practices and considering how to best respond to this public health emergency to keep our patients and registrants safe.” The agency also pointed to its caregiver program as a way for patients to avoid leaving their homes to acquire goods from a dispensary—a person registered as a caregiver can pick up the marijuana in a patient’s stead.

Currently, there are 58 registered caregivers in D.C., per D.C. Health data. Kahn says the program isn’t enough: “Someone can apply to do that but it’s a long, extended process that involves a criminal background check—it’s nothing that’s going to help us during this crisis.”

Dispensaries and delivery services alike have been instituting additional safety measures during the pandemic.

Takoma Wellness Center is implementing changes to make sure people spend as little time inside the dispensary as possible. The dispensary created an online ordering system in the past week, which a third of its customers are using, says Kahn, and constructed a tent out front for new customers to fill out necessary paperwork outside, as well as increasing its sterilization procedures. Additionally, the dispensary is allowing several employees to work from home.

Capital City Care has shifted its operations to allow express pick-up options, says Abebe, and added markings on the dispensary floor to denote 6 feet of social distancing. “We’re doing everything we can,” she says. “Patients regularly rely on this to maintain chronic illnesses and have quality of life during a time that is already under strain.”

Joint Delivery is now delivering with gloves and masks, and trying to make as little direct contact as possible during packaging and delivery. Connor says that many of the delivery workers were part time before the health crisis, and have lost their other jobs due to coronavirus-related shutdowns. Now, those workers are making up for those lost hours by doing more deliveries for Joint Delivery.

Another delivery service, which requested anonymity to speak frankly about its business, has transitioned to a no-contact delivery, in which customers must show their ID through the window and remain 6 feet away from the driver at all times, and requires hourly hand-washing among staff, amid other cleaning protocol. That service is also seeing a huge boost in business.

“In the first few days of the crisis, our daily sales doubled/tripled,” a representative for the service says over email. “Things have calmed down now and we’re operating with a slight increase in sales, and we’d say we’re seeing 25 percent to 50 percent more in daily sales at this point.”

But not everything is up. “While sales have increased, unfortunately tipping has decreased,” the service adds. “We understand that people are worried and want to conserve their assets. At the same time, please keep in mind that your delivery drivers are frontline workers, risking their lives for you.”