Lock It Down & Deliver: A Checklist for Compliant Cannabis Transportation

At the heart of the matter, compliance is about protecting your business. It’s no small task to create a cannabis transportation business, whether you’re in an emerging market or an established one. Remaining in compliance with cannabis transportation regulations protects your business from legal repercussions, potential fines, or even a shutdown.

Compliance is also about protecting the customer. Compliant cannabis transportation is secure and trackable so customers can feel assured of product safety, which bolsters trust in you, your business, and the plant as a whole. Compliant businesses help fight the stigma of cannabis, proving that this plant can be regulated for consumer safety.

Being out of compliance can attract negative attention from media outlets, which can damage customer trust in your brand. In short, compliance protects everyone.

The following is a list of considerations for compliant cannabis transportation — but it is not all-inclusive for every state. It’s important to get familiar with regulations at your local level, as well as compliance and safety best practices.

Pre-Transport Considerations:

• Licensing and Permits. You need certain permits for a cannabis business, but as a transportation business, your drivers or vehicles may need specialized licenses. These permits often renew on a recurring basis: mark them in your calendar so it doesn’t slip by.
• Vehicle Standards. Delivering cannabis products is a specialized type of delivery, and regulations often require certain specifications. Your insurance policy may also require safeguards to protect products during transport. These requirements could include secure compartments for products, tamper-evident seals, or a dash cam.
• Driver Requirements. Many states have certain requirements for hiring within the cannabis industry, which you need to be aware of, like a background check with certain restrictions. Cannabis governing bodies may also require specific training for drivers on secure transportation procedures (or your insurance policy might.) Depending on the vehicle, drivers may also require a valid commercial driver’s license.
• Routing. How are you planning your driver’s routes? The street value of cannabis products is high, which can make transportation businesses a risk for theft. Ensure your drivers are taking safe, efficient routes that don’t lead through high-risk theft areas.
• Product Packaging. It’s important not to knowingly transport out-of-compliance products, such as packages bearing THC warnings from other states. Ensure the products you’re delivering are packaged and labeled to state regulations, and that your employees are up-to-date on this as well to identify any potential problems.

During Transport Procedures:

• Follow Secure Transport Best Practices. These include: equipping your vehicles with GPS tracking systems, prioritizing maintenance of accurate product logs, and keeping all compartments with products locked during transit. For delivery, this can include verifying the identity of the receiver, ensuring safe product handoff, and keeping updated paperwork.
• Chain of Custody. A chain of custody document is one of the most important pieces of paperwork for transporting cannabis. All regulated products that your company transports should have a chain of custody document that your team keeps updated. These documents are crucial for regulation compliance and insurance requirements.
• Communication. The ability to keep in touch with your drivers during delivery in real time is important for any cannabis transportation business. You should have established communication protocols for drivers and your dispatch center to follow.
• Incident Reporting. When your business is on the road, you need to know about anything that happens there. Drivers should be equipped to document and report any incidents that occurred during transport, such as a fender-bender, an accident with an animal, or security breaches in the vehicle.

Post-Transport Procedures:

• Inventory Reconciliation. Reconciling your inventory and product manifests after every delivery helps you keep on top of your business and identify any discrepancies immediately.
• Documentation. Accurate record-keeping is an important security measure for any cannabis business, but especially for transportation businesses that handle a high volume of moving products.

Regular Audits. Conducting regular audits in your business helps keep compliance top of mind for you and your team and ensures you’re staying compliant with all regulations.

Cannabis transportation businesses have many regulations to stay on top of. It may not be the most exciting job of a leadership team, but it is one of the most important, given how regulations shift in this industry at the local, state, and occasionally federal levels.

Staying on top of delivery compliance is the proactive approach to keep your business moving forward, and ensures your investment of time and money is protected.

Protecting your cannabis company can seem confusing; however, we’re a full-service insurance brokerage working with carriers worldwide to offer you the best coverage possible. We’re here to help! Please reach out to us today by email [email protected] or calling 646-854-1093 for a customized letter or learning more about your cannabis insurance options.