Can You Order Weed In The Mail?

It is legal to order and receive your strains in the mail. It’s a way many consumers can find opportunities to try new strains and extracts. When it comes to sending it out, meeting the regulations is up to retailers like us! 

COVID has impacted how you can order, as government officials announced that the delivery of cannabis products would be available to Canadians during the pandemic. What goes into ordering weed by mail?

How Can I Order Weed In The Mail? 

Mail-ordered weed in Canada goes back to 2001 when medicinal options would greet users at their door. Now, everyone at the legal age can purchase dried cannabis and concentrates from retailers all over Canada. 

When ordering weed in the mail for the first time, it’s important to make sure that the retailer is legitimate. Some online marketplaces take advantage of grey areas in provincial laws, and if you’re not careful, you could pay for something you’ll never receive. All purchases made online for an order in the mail should be a secure website that uses SSL encryption when collecting the payment. The retailer will then process the order, carefully package it, and send it through a courier to your house. 

Licensed producers can ship their cannabis province to province with any courier as long as the package complies with the requirements of the Cannabis Act. Upon delivery, the delivery person needs proof of age and an adult signature from the recipient.

 

How Does A Mail-Order Weed Package Look?

 

All retailers must follow the relevant mailing laws and regulations to ensure that their product is not sold and delivered to anyone under the provincial legal age limit. The package must follow these packaging and label requirements: 

• Unmarked packaging: The shipment packaging must not indicate what’s inside – meaning no marking or advertising!
• No odours allowed: Because it travels through the mail with all the other mail, the smell can’t escape the packaging. We must use a vacuum-sealed bag or plastic container that can adequately stop weed odours.
• What’s inside must be child-proof: We must package all products in child-resistant containers.
• Everything must include an excise stamp: Every product must have an excise stamp affixed on the packaging. This stamp is proof that the required duties were paid to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). It can also serve as the security seal. Each province and territory has a unique excise stamp for legal cannabis products grown and sold within its borders. 
• Security: To guarantee that a customer’s weed has not been opened or tampered with, we apply a security seal on every product.

If any of this packaging isn’t compliant, the courier will most likely return the order to the company. 

 

Are There Any Restrictions On Ordering Weed Through The Mail?

The Cannabis Act only legalized cannabis nationwide; it left the distribution to the provinces. As such, most areas have different rules about how consumers can buy weed online. Some let consumers buy directly from private cannabis retailers, while others have single government-run websites. Buying a maximum of 30 grams of recreational cannabis is the standard across the country, as it’s the amount legal adults can share with other legal adults.

We have to be very conscious of the various legal ages across Canada. While the legal age is 19 in most provinces, it’s 18 in Alberta and 21 in Quebec. While an 18-year-old can receive a product at their home in Edmonton if they’ve ordered from within the province, a dispensary in Ontario cannot sell and mail weed to them. 

When you order weed online, make sure you have some ID to receive it! If the receiver appears to be younger than 25, the delivery person will ask for photo ID before handing over the package. If you have to pick it up from an office like Canada Post, identification will be a requirement.