Retail dispensaries across New York will soon be allowed to deliver marijuana
NEW YORK -- As some New Yorkers await brick-and-mortar dispensaries to buy adult-use retail marijuana, delivery will soon be an option across the state.
The Office of Cannabis Management says New York's conditional adult-use retail dispensary licensees can start delivering product via bike, scooter, vehicle or on foot.
"We thought while we wait for some of these locations to come online, while people take the time to find space, we should give everybody an opportunity to get started on retail delivery," said OCM Chief of Staff Axel Bernabe.
Delivery guidance was released Friday:
- It will be online and phone orders only; no in-person sales or pick-up will be allowed from warehouse locations.
- Customers must be 21 and older with ID verification to buy.
- Businesses can employ up to 25 delivery staff members.
- Only online pre-payments will be accepted; no cash allowed.
"They can find a temporary location for a year, for 12 months, they can start from a warehouse, in a sort of less expensive location and start building their retail brand, building their product offerings," Bernabe said.
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Bernabe says other security measures for delivery people include carrying a GPS locator at all times, a locked box and "manifests that clearly indicate what product you're carrying."
"To hear that they are leaning away from cash would make a lot of sense with respect to delivery, but I think that once the retailers are operational, then obviously cash would have to be king at that point," said David Feder, with WeedLaw.com.
The state had hoped to have some of the dispensaries opened by the end of the year, but that seems unlikely, so deliveries could be the next best thing to jumpstart the industry.
"It's vital that this takes place so that we can get sales done by year's end to fulfill the OCM's promises and Governor Hochul's promises that we're gonna be operational by the end of the year," Feder said.
Watch Alice Gainer's report
Brittany Carbone is a Cannabis Association of New York board member.
"Delivery, I think, can actually help to reach more people than a traditional brick-and-mortar location might," she said. "We've seen in other states be the most, the biggest indicator of how well the legal market is going to be able to offset the unregulated market, right, is access to retail."
She estimates it will take most businesses a month to get delivery up and running.
New Yorkers who spoke to CBS2's Dick Brennan seemed to really like the idea of delivering pot, even if they don't partake themselves.
"So why not have this item just like anything else? It's legal now," one person said.
"I mean, it's legal to buy it anyway in a dispensary, so I don't see any harm in it," another person said.
"It's better they do it at home rather than out in the street because I don't, personally, like the smell," another person said.
In November, the state approved 36 licenses for businesses to operate the first retail dispensaries here.
Conditional adult-use retail dispensary licenses were given to people impacted by enforcement of prohibition of cannabis and also nonprofits who support the formerly incarcerated.