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State-legal hemp businesses will be allowed to access financial relief under the multi-million dollar federal coronavirus stimulus package approved last week.

State-legal hemp businesses are eligible for aid under the $2.2 million coronavirus stimulus package signed by President Donald Trump last week; however, medical and recreational cannabis firms will not have access to the relief package due to federal cannabis prohibition.

Businesses are on the front lines of the COVID-19 outbreak. Employers must attempt to balance public health concerns, compliance with emergency government orders, employee safety, consumer demand, and financial reality. Many states are enacting restrictions on business activity or even forcing “non-essential” companies to close or transition to a work-from-home policy.

For humans, like most species, surviving life on Earth isn’t exactly easy. But thankfully we’re not in it alone.

Marijuana sales are rising in the US amid the coronavirus pandemic. Many states announced that marijuana is an “essential item.” As a result, many medical dispensaries can stay open along with pharmacies. The pandemic, which is eating away at the global economy, gives the marijuana sector an advantage.

After nearly 4 years of what some researchers saw as foot dragging, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has announced it will evaluate 37 applications to grow marijuana for medical research and proposed new rules for the prospective growers that outline how the cannabis-growing program would work.

After 17 years in the military and Special Forces deployments in nearly every terrorist hot spot on Earth, former Green Beret Adam Smith found that while his military battles had ended, his personal one had not.

“I had a hard time sleeping lots of anxiety, lots of hyper-vigilance, all the symptoms that revolve around post-traumatic stress,” Smith, in an interview, remembered of his difficult transition to civilian life, starting in 2015.

Cannabis is turning out to be the one thing the coronavirus can’t destroy.

Marijuana sales are booming, with some states seeing 20 percent spikes in sales as anxious Americans prepare to be hunkered down in their homes potentially for months. Weed sellers are staffing up too, hiring laid-off workers from other industries to meet demand. And in the midst of a historic market meltdown, stock prices for cannabis companies have surged, in some cases doubling since the public health crisis began.

As Illinoisans are ordered to hunker down to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, calls to allow legal marijuana deliveries have increased.

State Rep. Sonya Harper (D-Chicago) introduced legislation last month that would allow cannabis dispensaries to deliver marijuana to both medical pot patients and recreational customers. Now, she’s calling on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to take immediate action amid the rising public health crisis.

These marijuana stocks have the tools to outlast the COVID-19 pandemic.

The stock market may be the greatest long-term wealth creator, but it's not without its fair share of corrections and bear markets. The current bear market we're in just happens to be the steepest in recorded history, with the benchmark S&P 500 losing 34% of its value in a span of less than five weeks.