Denver to reduce fees, extend exclusivity for cannabis delivery companies

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It’s going to be easier to run a cannabis delivery service in Denver thanks to a bill approved by the City Council.

According to Denverite, the measure – which must be signed into law by the mayor – would reduce the fees associated with marijuana delivery services in Colorado’s largest city:

  • Retail delivery licenses would drop from $2,000 to $25.
  • Transporter permits from $2,500 to $25.
  • Transport applications would pay a $25 fee.
  • Retail fees would decrease to $25.

The bill also offers protections to social equity applicants seeking to start delivery companies, according to The Gazette:

  • Retailers no longer are allowed to create their own delivery services.
  • The delivery-license exclusivity granted to social equity entrepreneurs will no longer expire in July 2024.

The moves are an effort to breathe life into cannabis delivery in Denver while also boosting social equity opportunities.

Citing high costs, the city’s first delivery service, Doobba, shut down in August.

Denver overhauled its marijuana regulations in April 2021 to allow delivery – with the stipulation that retailers must use licensed transporter companies for the first three years of the program.

Only entrepreneurs who qualified as social equity applicants by demonstrating they had been harmed by prohibition and/or belong to an underserved neighborhood may apply to start a cannabis delivery service.