{"id":9411,"date":"2021-07-30T12:34:55","date_gmt":"2021-07-30T12:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=4675760"},"modified":"2021-07-30T12:34:55","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T12:34:55","slug":"marijuana-delivery-in-denver-could-start-as-early-as-august","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/marijuana-delivery-in-denver-could-start-as-early-as-august\/","title":{"rendered":"Marijuana delivery in Denver could start as early as August"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/marijuana-delivery-in-denver-could-start-as-early-as-august\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<div><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/marijuana-delivery-in-denver-could-start-as-early-as-august.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2021\/07\/30\/marijuana-delivery-denver-strawberry-fields\/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dp-news-marijuana+%28Denver+Post%3A+News%3A+Marijuana%29&amp;utm_content=Google+UK#comments-anchor\"><span class=\"spot-im-replies-count\" data-post-id=\"4675760\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ordering an eighth of marijuana from Strawberry Fields dispensary to your doorstep could soon be as easy as ordering a pizza.<\/p>\n<p>On July 20, the shop became the Mile High City\u2019s first to receive a permit to deliver cannabis products. It\u2019s working with a company called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.doobba.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Doobba<\/a>, the city\u2019s first licensed delivery service provider, to offer customers a new way to buy.<\/p>\n<p>Rich Kwesell, co-owner of Strawberry Fields, expects both medical and recreational deliveries to begin in August, acknowledging there are logistical details to work through before launch. But for consumers, he doesn\u2019t expect much to change.<\/p>\n<p>Those looking to order delivery will use <a href=\"https:\/\/strawberryfieldscannabis.com\/recreational-cannabis-dispensary-denver\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Strawberry Fields\u2019 website and digital menu<\/a> to add products to a cart much like they do now. The difference will be that they don\u2019t have to pick up their order in-person.<\/p>\n<p>Being the first \u2014 and so far only \u2014 weed store licensed for delivery is \u201can incredible honor and an enormous responsibility,\u201d Kwesell said.<\/p>\n<p>Since the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2021\/04\/19\/denver-weed-delivery-marijuana-city-council-2021\/\">Denver City Council approved ordinances to allow for cannabis delivery<\/a> in April, three companies have applied for licenses to offer the service. Doobba was the first to receive its license in late July. Applications for the others, High Demand Delivery and Grn Bus, are still pending, said Eric Escudero, director of communications for Denver Excise and Licensing.<\/p>\n<p>The delivery companies operate differently \u2014 Grn Bus and Doobba, for example, will have consumer-facing platforms that connect buyers to dispensaries, while High Demand Delivery does not \u2014 but the common thread that ties them together is they all meet <a href=\"https:\/\/sbg.colorado.gov\/social-equity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the state\u2019s definition of social equity<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Until 2027, Denver licenses for delivery businesses are available exclusively to social equity applicants, meaning those who live in an area of the city disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs, whose income is less than 50% of the state median or who have a cannabis-related arrest or conviction in their record or on a family member\u2019s record. After three years, dispensaries that do not meet the social equity criteria are eligible to self-distribute.<\/p>\n<p>Why is that important?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe took a hard look at who has benefited from legalization. Unfortunately, a select group of individuals who are connected or have the financial means have benefited in the past seven years,\u201d Escudero said. \u201cWe\u2019re determined to bring more equitable access to the industry to deliver on the full promise of cannabis legalization.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After Ari Cohen, co-founder of Doobba, was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute more than two decades ago, it was something he had to continually address in job interviews. A classically trained chef, Cohen once applied to work in an airport and needed to collect \u201cevery single piece of paper\u201d related to his past convictions to provide to the Transportation Security Administration, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Cohen ended up getting that job and later worked for an edibles manufacturing company, but worries about how his past would affect his future lingered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe weren\u2019t sure if he\u2019d ever have another job,\u201d said Karina Cohen, Ari\u2019s wife and now business partner. \u201cIt was a big to do and super, super stressful. Every day you could see the shadow over Ari, like, is this going to go through?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Denver recently opened applications for several different business licenses and is allowing new pot shop locations to open for the first time since 2016, delivery is the most promising avenue for folks systematically excluded from Colorado\u2019s green rush, said Sarah Woodson, chief compliance officer with High Demand Delivery. Woodson, who helped develop the city\u2019s social equity program, said it is fundamentally flawed because it\u2019s nearly impossible to find an available space for a store or hospitality license.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA group of social equity people that have been looking for stores and licenses, we\u2019re keeping tabs and collectively we probably have over 100 \u2018no\u2019s. The places just don\u2019t work,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd because of that, delivery will most likely be the first go-to opportunity because otherwise you don\u2019t have any opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And there\u2019s another caveat: There needs to be buy-in from dispensaries.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\" \/>\n<p>In Denver, a city with nearly 200 places to buy cannabis, five dispensaries so far applied to offer delivery, Escudero said. In order to be able to deliver, dispensaries first need a permit to do so and then, as previously mentioned, to contract with a licensed delivery company. Unless other shops get on board soon, the social equity program and its participants could be set up for failure, Woodson said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat you\u2019re asking someone to do is to create another business model that fundamentally goes against their business model for people that essentially could be their competition,\u201d she said. \u201cSo it\u2019s a very tricky thing to do and business-wise, for a lot of people, it won\u2019t make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Woodson hopes dispensaries won\u2019t wait until the three-year exclusivity expires to launch their own delivery programs, especially considering the steep startup costs. Delivery companies are required to own a fleet of cars equipped with security cameras and product storage, as well as hire their own employees licensed by the Marijuana Enforcement Division. (As Woodson puts it, there\u2019s no \u201cUber model\u201d for cannabis delivery.)<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s all before considering technology-related investments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt takes nerves of steel,\u201d said Chad Compton, who cofounded Grn Bus with his cousin Alain Lahoud. \u201cWe\u2019re not funded by a large corporation. It\u2019s really just my cousin and I scraping together what we can to make this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Still, Lahoud believes the benefits will be significant for patients who may be unable to leave their homes and customers looking for the convenience of delivery. And the opportunity to re-enter the industry is not one he takes for granted.<\/p>\n<p>In 2017, Lahoud, who was growing marijuana as a caregiver, was arrested and charged for cultivating too many plants, along with possession of concentrates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI definitely fell into a thing where I wasn\u2019t able to find a job,\u201d Lahoud said. \u201cNow that the city of Denver has given me a door opening with social equity, it\u2019s enlightened me and motivated me more to move forward and help people along the way who were in the same situation as myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/newsletter-signup\/in-the-know\/\">Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, In The Know, to get entertainment news sent straight to your inbox.<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>Wishing for a service like GrubHub for cannabis? Weed delivery will soon be a reality in the Mile High City. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[52,6811,6813,77,5577,7816,6815,2437,9,5019,1,3,7072,6923,61,1736],"tags":[2632,6816,6818,2655,5580,7818,6820,2443,5022,7073,6924],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9411"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9411\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}