While cannabis may be some form of legal in 40 states, legal is a relative term, as federal legalization is not yet the law of our increasingly pot-loving land.
Practically, this means that instead of a well-regulated national market, each legal state has its own rules for how weed can be sold, and to whom—and each state is waging its own battle with the unsanctioned gray market. It’s no secret that places like New York City are dealing with an influx of “extra legal” shops, and short of rekindling the smoldering drug war, it’s hard to know what to do about it.
If you’re eating, smoking, or vaping cannabis, you definitely want to be sure that it’s hasn’t be adulterated in some way. While the licensed recreational and medical markets have experienced the occasional recall, their products are generally recognized as safe, both by the state government and the people patronizing them.
Why shop legally?
Though they are likely to be more expensive that what’s on offer for that guy on Telegram, legal cannabis purchased from a licensed dispensary will give you peace of mind. Products coming from other sources don’t have the same chain of possession or paper trail, and aren’t subject to the same testing regimes required by many states. Some folks may still count on their longtime dealers, but the new gray market is more of the regular flavor of capitalism—think “smoke shops” selling mystery vapes filled with who knows what—than the old days, when it was a relationship based in trust and willingness to mutually commit an illegal activity.
While some of this sub-sanctioned cannabis might be completely fine to consume, if you’re a medical consumer or of a sensitive population—or just paranoid—you don’t want anything added to your product for a long list of safety reasons.
Here are tips to make sure that your cannabis outlet is legitimate, whether your visiting it in person or online.
Look for state logos and licenses (and compare the packaging to the real deal)
In your shop hunt, search terms can make all the difference. “Medical dispensaries” will hopefully narrow down the choices to slightly stricter medical shops, provided you are in a state with a medical program and you have a card. “Recreational dispensary” might draw some other results, as gray area shops sometimes mimic the language as legal (but non-medical) shops.
Sanctioned, licensed shops will take your information, and scan, not just look at, your ID. While some unlicensed shops will make sure you’re 21 and add you to a loyalty program, or even pay taxes, there’s very little recourse if their products make you sick compared to a business with state agency oversight.
Many legal dispensaries like to distance themselves from the gray market, so they will prominently display logos, paperwork, and language to denote themselves as a license holder. For example, in New York, shops display a state logo and a QR code you can scan to see their bonafides, and in California, you can quickly look up license holders in a database.
You should also eyeball the packaging. If what you’re buying includes a brand name, google it to see it it’s an established grower. If it is, search out the strain name (as well as any numerical identifiers and the packaging dates—information that is generally required to be included on the label for anything legally produced) to make sure they pass the smell test. There’s an elaborate market out their for counterfeit packaging, but you can usually spot the differenced between a forgery and the real thing (spelling mistakes being a key giveaway).
Do your research
It’s not going on your permanent record if you google “cannabis shop,” but you’ll be surprised at the mixed results you get if you do. Since the Farm Bill passed in 2018, synthetic cannabinoids have become more common in retail settings, both online and in person. It can be hard for the average consumer to tell the difference between a cannabis-derived product, a hemp-derived product, or synthetically created product, and many don’t know why they should care.
Federal loopholes are to blame for all this confusion. People basically realized you can synthesize THC from hemp cannabinoids, which are legal to grow in most states (thanks for that, Farm Bill!), but the results have meant it’s hard for novice users to know exactly what they are getting. While THC grows on both cannabis and hemp plants naturally, one doesn’t hold the same legal status, so the rush to create “compliant” cannabinoid products has taken things to a really weird place.
THat means, unfortunately, that the onus is on you when you’re buying something. Google the product name, read all the fine print on the label, and understand the difference between delta-8, delta-9, and THC-O.
Verifiable online outlets are safe; others, not so much
It’s probably not a safe bet to order cannabinoid products from any national online retailer you haven’t looked into, unless you are cool with hemp cannabinoids and synthetic alternatives.
Hemp is federally legal to sell, but cannabis is not, so anyone selling you “cannabis” across state lines via the internet is either breaking some rules, or selling you hemp or synthetic as cannabis. Licensed online retailers do sell cannabis in multiple states where it’s legal, but they will never operate across state lines.
Cannabis review sites like Weedmaps and Leafly have results that are sometimes ranked based on partnerships, but they don’t actively advertise illegal shops, at least not anymore. Check reviews for any shops you want to peruse, paying attention to language about scams and fees— the Better Business Bureau has reported an uptick in dispensary related scams. (This can be blamed squarely on the lack of secure banking options for most cannabis businesses.)
Licensed online cannabis retailers can take your order directly if you’re in a legal state, and will deliver generally the same day, but they are definitely not going to take your order if they can’t fill it, so that’s one safeguard against any confusion.
This could all be avoided
Critics say that unsanctioned shops themselves are killing the sanctioned market, and it’s safe to say states like New York are a big mess, but is the weed safe? When it comes from legal producers, it might be.
In states like California and Oregon, the unsanctioned market is certainly still thriving at the retail level, but more importantly, it’s fueling the rest of the country’s markets as wholesalers. Even licensed businesses are being accused of shipping licensed products out the back door to other states, as per a recent court case.
Being among the primary growing regions, you can find California products at shops all around the country, but because interstate commerce is not yet allowed, they’re not exactly making it to their destinations through official channels.
While it’s worth saluting legal growers in states like New York who are working hard to supply an eager market, it’s definitely strange logic to grow our own when even farmers from states with lengthy growing histories (and lengthy growing seasons) are struggling to sell their products legally. The supply and demand are matched and met by the gray market—but for law-abiding legal operators, that same commerce is prohibited.
Instead of a puzzle of mismatched supply and loopholes that allow a synthetic cannabinoid market to proliferate, buying weed should be easy and safe. The gray area leaves room for both scammers and bad or adulterated products. It’s time for the feds to legitimize growers and sellers, and to focus on safeguards for quality like any other agricultural product—so maybe bother your legislators about it.
