How legal cannabis delivery works in New York

The state will allow its first cannabis stores to fulfill orders through delivery while gradually introducing brick-and-mortar stores.

Many of New York’s first legal weed dispensers will be serving customers by delivery, rather than in-store, when adult sales tentatively begin later this month. On Friday, December 9th, the New York City Bureau of Cannabis Management released guidelines for Contingent Retail Distribution License Winners for Adult Use (CAURD) who wish to utilize the supply.

All CAURD license winners can obtain Office of Cannabis Management approval to begin shipping to customers. The delivery option should boost the market “with a model that helps them stay competitive while offering licensee entrepreneurs options as they build new adult cannabis businesses,” according to an OCM press release.

“By boosting sales with delivery, we are giving this first group of licensees the opportunity to develop and grow their business while providing New York City cannabis consumers with tested products they can trust, protect public health and get cannabis from those under Keep away from 21 years old,” Chris Alexander, the executive director of the OCM, said in a statement last week. “We look forward to getting sales up and running before the end of the year and meeting consumers where they are.”

Here’s what New York’s weed supply laws allow

(nadia_bormotova/iStock)

Last week, at a public meeting, Alexander said the delivery was the best temporary solution to get the new stores up and running while the brick-and-mortar stores are prepared. The temporary delivery permit applies to all retail pharmacy licensees. All delivery operations are subject to public health and safety regulations.

The Office of Cannabis Management emailed Leafly the following guidance:

• Retail licensees to secure a warehouse from which to fulfill delivery orders while also establishing permanent dispensary locations for up to a year.
• Customers are only allowed to place online/telephone orders; no personal sale or collection from warehouse location.
• Customers are only allowed to make online prepayments; no cash payments from the cannabis user to the delivery worker
• Delivery is by bicycle, scooter or other similar means of transport, as well as motor vehicles
• Delivery to consumers 21+ in New York, with ID verification at sale and delivery
• Up to (25) couriers per business as required by the New York Cannabis Act

Physical storefronts are coming soon

(Adobe Stock)

In November, the Cannabis Control Board granted provisional approval to the state’s first 36 adult-use retail pharmacy licensees. 28 of those licenses went to qualifying businesses and 8 of those provisional licenses went to eligible non-profit organizations. While the 28 new businesses will have to wait before they open physical doors, some of the nonprofits already have locations. They may be the only physical stores open before the end of 2022.

The Office of Cannabis Management has notified provisional CAURD licensees that they can submit their desired retail location for approval. Eligible licenses receive financial support for renovations from the Social Equity Cannabis Investment Fund, operated by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY). DASNY will help licensees find and grow their businesses as CAURD licenses will be released progressively through 2022.