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Home delivery now allowed for legal cannabis
For those of you chilling at home on some high-grade indica who can’t find the zeal to pupate forth down the street to your local legal cannabis vendor, good news!
Your local legal cannabis vendor can now come to you with your order.
The provincial government today announced that licensed cannabis retailers will be able to deliver non-medical cannabis products directly to consumers starting July 15.
This change builds on the August 2020 move allowing cannabis retail stores (CRS) to sell their products online, providing more economic opportunities for retailers. Consumers will gain a new way to purchase non-medical cannabis from a legal source in their community, helping to support B.C.’s legal cannabis industry and strengthen their local economy, a Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General media release outlined.
“Since the federal legalization of non-medical cannabis, we’ve been working to support a strong and diverse cannabis industry, shrink the illicit market and keep products out of the hands of children and youth,” said Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General. “Allowing direct delivery to consumers isn’t just an advantage retailers have told us is vital to the viability of their sector, it’s also a way we can further our public safety goals.”
The government also announced today that in response to industry feedback, and as a result of experience gained with respect to security verification since legalization in 2018, B.C. is also removing security verification requirements for cannabis workers.
This will eliminate delays in hiring, benefiting business owners. It also enables legal retailers to hire staff more quickly to implement delivery and will reduce costs for industry and government, the ministry said.
“Government has consulted, listened and really delivered,” said Jaclynn Pehota, executive director, Association of Canadian Cannabis Retailers. “Knowing retailers can start hiring without delay and be ready to better meet customers’ needs when delivery becomes an option is incredibly welcome news. Adding convenient home delivery to the mix of knowledgeable staff and regulated product can only serve to make the legal cannabis sector the source of choice for more people.”
Since 2018, government has completed security screening on more than 7,000 prospective cannabis workers and has not identified any significant risk of links to organized crime, the ministry said.
Prospective CRS licensees and their associates will remain subject to rigorous security screening when applying for a licence. As well, licensees face possible enforcement action and penalties if their staff contravene cannabis control laws and regulations or licensing terms and conditions.
Only adults will be allowed to receive delivery orders, and anyone who appears to be under 19 will have to present two pieces of identification. The recipient will not have to be a resident at the address or the person who placed the order. However, they will have to provide their name and signature to take delivery.
About legal cannabis delivery in B.C.
* Only cannabis retail store (CRS) licensees and their employees will be authorized to deliver non-medical cannabis products directly to consumers. Licensees will not be able to use third-party delivery services.
* Licensees may choose to deliver by motor vehicle, bike or on foot, but they must ensure product is stored securely during delivery. Employees delivering product must carry a copy of their CRS licence as identification for law enforcement.
* Delivery will be limited to residential addresses in B.C. or to an area immediately outside the CRS (e.g., for curbside pickup), and may only take place between the hours 9 a.m. and 11 p.m., unless these hours are further restricted by the local government or Indigenous Nation where the store is located or by the general manager of the provincial Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch.
* Purchases for delivery will be subject to the same individual transaction limits in place at retail stores (e.g., a maximum of 30 grams of dried cannabis per transaction).
* With these changes, government will no longer require existing CRS workers to undertake a follow-up security screening after five years.
* Government will reimburse the $100 application fee to cannabis workers who have applied for but not yet received their worker qualification.
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