Cannabis delivery services are cropping up everywhere today, and since cannabis delivery is not really legal anywhere in the U.S. yet, these services are primarily ‘black market.’
The cannabis itself is usually legal, but the delivery services are not. Let’s take a look at two prominent recreational-legal states and compare their cannabis delivery service laws: California and Colorado.
California’s Black Market Cannabis Delivery Services
In California, cannabis entrepreneurs have taken cannabis delivery into their own hands, delivering cannabis to patients who can’t leave home, people who don’t want to leave home, and even areas of the state where cannabis businesses are not allowed. Technically, cannabis deliveries have been illegal in California all along, and technically, cannabis deliveries will be legal once the new recreational cannabis laws are put into motion. Chapter 9 says the following about cannabis delivery in California:
- Cannabis deliveries can be made by licensed retailers, microbusinesses, or licensed nonprofits
- Cannabis delivery customers must keep an electronic or physical copy of their order requests
- Law enforcement officers cannot prevent delivery of cannabis or cannabis products on public roads so long as it’s done legally
On April 19th, Leafly named the following top cannabis delivery services:
- Goddess Delivers
- Harvest Bloom
- Ganjarunner
- Bluebird Delivery
- Worldwideweed
If you want to own a legal cannabis delivery service in California, you might want to wait until January 2018, when California is expected to release all the new recreational and medical cannabis regulations it’s been working on since recreational was legalized in 2016. Then again, you may want to get the ball rolling before that, as you’ll likely have lots of competition.
Colorado’s Black Market Cannabis Delivery Services
Cannabis delivery services are not legal in Colorado, despite an attempt to push through U.S. Senate Bill 17-192 with the delivery services and other protections for recreational cannabis businesses in Colorado. The revised and re-revised bill was signed on June 2, 2017, with the cannabis delivery services portion taken out. So, illegal services continue to thrive. KushTourism’s website notes that courier services are allowed to carry cannabis from producers to distribution services, and from distribution services retail shops – but you still can’t get your pot delivered to your home, hotel room, or place of business. Dang! Well, as with most things, people have found a way to get around the illegality of cannabis deliveries in Colorado; namely, the Internet – a place for all things black market, all things illegal, and for some, all things cannabis. These drivers are risking jail time for their deliveries, but they still make them. In Colorado, three major cannabis delivery services popped right up in a quick Google search.
Cannabis Delivery in Other U.S. States
Seattle has been trying to legalize cannabis delivery for months, but the most recent incarnation of that idea failed to produce legality. Despite the laws, though, Washington has been the home of cannabis delivery services for a long time. A Seattle Weekly article noted that despite local law enforcement prosecution, at least 14 black market cannabis delivery organizations still exist. Cannabis delivery is also illegal in Alaska. Oregon, Massachusetts, and Maine allow cannabis delivery directly to people’s homes, with a few caveats depending on the state. In Washington, D.C., cannabis is delivered to people as an additional gift when customers order juice or another, legally sold product. If we’re talking about any other state, cannabis delivery is illegal. The rules are different for medical cannabis, though, so check back here for that article, or check with your local state government.
