Imagine you are a medical cannabis patient living in Utah. You live in one of the more rural parts of the state, meaning you have to drive an hour to visit your favorite Provo pharmacy. You would really appreciate it if you could order online and have your purchase delivered right to your door. It turns out you can.
Home delivery just got underway in Utah. It has been an option in other states for quite some time. However, it wasn’t until recently that home delivery became a viable option in more conservative states with strict medical cannabis laws. It was not until recently that the two things necessary to make delivery viable were available to would-be delivery providers.
Deseret Wellness is a Utah medical cannabis pharmacy located in Provo. They say that home delivery is available across the entire state, though not all pharmacies deliver in every area. Covering the entire state is a collective effort. Deseret Wellness attributes the following two things with making home delivery viable:
Electronic Payments
The cannabis industry is a cash-and-carry business for the most part. Why? Because the legal status of cannabis at the federal level presents banks with too much risk. Most banks, credit unions, and credit card companies do not want to do business with cannabis-related companies because they want to avoid trouble with federal law enforcement agencies.
Now, thanks to a new business model that has overcome banking restrictions, it is possible to pay for medical cannabis products in Utah using a debit card. This is big. Utah patients can now order and pay online just as if they were buying something from Amazon or Walmart.
Debit card payments make home delivery super convenient for patients. They also make it safer for delivery providers and their drivers. Debit card payments free drivers from having to carry around thousands of dollars in cash. They also reduce the number of cash pharmacies keep on hand. That is a win-win.
Automatic Card Verification
Another challenge for rural Utah patients is having to drive to a pharmacy for card verification. Even with online ordering, a patient would still have to physically visit a pharmacy at least one time in order to register their medical cannabis card. Pharmacy employees would have to physically see the card and check the patient’s ID to verify legitimacy.
That’s no longer the case. At least one Utah company now has the ability to instantly verify medical cannabis cards online. That means rural patients never have to enter the doorway of a brick-and-mortar medical cannabis pharmacy. They can register online, have their cards instantly verified, and then place an order. That order can be delivered to their doors at a time convenient for the patient.
It is not clear exactly how instant online verification works. It’s probably a safe bet to say that the company had to work things out with state regulators in order to offer the service. But now that it’s available, competitors will probably follow suit in short order.
A Long Time Coming
For medical cannabis patients in rural parts of Utah, home delivery has been a long time coming. State legislators deserve credit for coming up with a framework to allow home delivery. No doubt it represents a big step for a state as conservative as the Beehive State.
Thanks to electronic payments and instant online verification, medical cannabis patients in Utah no longer have to go to the pharmacy to get their medicines. They can have them delivered right to their doors. That is good news for both patients and pharmacies alike.
