• The government of Canada reported – for the September 2022 reporting period – that more than 17,414,887 packaged units of cannabis were sold across Canada.
• The country has been experiencing a 10% increase each month in the number of patients signed up to receive medical cannabis.
• After the legalization of recreational cannabis, the sales at cannabis stores in the first half of 2019 reached more than $420 million.
• In 2021, Canadians bought CA$3.83 billion worth of recreational cannabis from licensed stores.

Are you getting closer to finding a business opportunity in an online marijuana dispensary? If not, please bear a few more seconds with me.

• 28% of Canadians aged 15 and older reported using cannabis in the past year.
• According to a forecast by CIBC, the Cannabis industry will be larger than the hard liquor market and as big as the wine market.
• According to Statistics Canada, Cannabis sales across Canada in May 2021 increased 68% to $313 million which was the highest ever.

We are sure, you must now have successfully found the opportunity to jump into the flourishing online cannabis industry in a most rewarding way.

Is the selling of cannabis or marijuana legal in Canada and the USA?

Cannabis or its dry flowers which are called marijuana is legal in Canada for both medical and recreational purposes.

On 17 October 2018, the federal government of Canada imposed the Cannabis Act that legalizes the cultivation, possession, acquisition, and consumption of cannabis and its by-products.

However, the legalization comes with regulations that govern home production, distribution, consumption areas, and sales time. .

We will discuss the Cannabis Act in detail later in this blog.

Talking about the USA, cannabis is both legal and illegal in different states.

How can you sell medical cannabis online?

Needless to say that you would need proper infrastructure such as a shop to sell anything to customers.

However, selling products in a legacy way requires a huge investment in property or brick-mortar stores, resources, and time. It also facilitates you to serve only a limited locality.

Here is where an online cannabis mobile app and web app come to the rescue.

A cannabis mobile app and web app cost significantly less than owning a brick-mortar store.

It also speeds up the time-to-market and provides business visibility to understand how it is performing.

Selling cannabis online does not limit the business terrain as you can offer your services to a large area or multiple locations.

How can you verify the age of online buyers?

The cannabis industry is highly restricted by age. The government allows cannabis stores to sell cannabis and its by-products to only adults.

In a physical store, you can easily verify the age of the customers. But on the app, it is a tricky part to verify the age of customers in real-time.

You can ask them to upload their IDs to verify their age. But this is a very slow process and customers have to wait hours to first verify the age and then place the order.

The most convenient way of verifying age on the app is by using some third-party age verification software such as BlueCheck.

Such software verifies the age of the customers in real time and with 100% accuracy. So, you don’t have to worry about the policy violation on your app.

Who can sell medical cannabis online?

How does a mobile app solve the supply-chain challenge of the cannabis industry?

We discussed 3 cannabis app ideas this week with Ontario and British Columbia-based entrepreneurs.

They told us that the major reason why they are aiming to conquer the cannabis industry with the mobile app is the ability mobile app provides them to focus on core business rather than managing ‘things’ associated with brick-mortar store management.

One such ‘thing’ is the supply chain of cannabis.

Supply shortages and shipping delays are very common in the Canadian cannabis industry.

A much less sophisticated supply-chain network for cannabis struggles most with large distances between top Canadian cities, very small package sizes, different regulations in different provinces, and poor coordination between different stakeholders.

If we dig deep inside, lack of knowledge about customer behavior, poor or zero predictive analysis, and no proper channel for communication and coordination between stakeholders are the top culprits here.

A simple mobile app eliminates all these culprits in a single shot. It brings growers, retailers, consumers, transport companies, and even delivery drivers for end-users under one single roof.

It enables real-time package tracking, real-time communication, location sharing, knowledge sharing, easy order, payments, reviews, etc.

It even ensures that you adhere to all regulations as the app works in a firm manner, and not in a fragile manner like a human!

How long does it take to develop a cannabis app? What would be the cost of cannabis delivery app development?

In the case of app development, the required time to develop the app influences the development cost while the app features and technologies influence the development time.

The more complex features you wish to add to your mobile app, the more time it requires, increasing the development cost.

It generally costs as minimum as $40000 with all necessary features working on the latest technologies.

This is the reason why the MVP approach is becoming more popular in the startup or even in an enterprise community.

The MVP app includes only basic features which reduce time-to-market and development costs.

Once familiar with the exact market needs, you can scale up the operations by integrating advanced features into the app.

Talking about development time, it is not feasible to estimate it without knowing the exact requirements.

What are the regulatory considerations to start an online marijuana dispensary in Canada?

The Cannabis Act which is imposed by the federal government of Canada consists of many regulations to which you should adhere to avoid hefty fines.

We accommodate the compliance experts who can accompany you on your most crucial journey toward addressing regulations.

With the help of one of the compliance experts, we are here listing out some of the cannabis laws in Canada.

• You need to acquire a license from government authorities in order to cultivate & process cannabis, sell cannabis for medical purposes, and test & research cannabis.
• A permit is also required for the import and export of cannabis.
• The cannabis package should have uniform plain colour and texture and should not have any branding or promotional elements on it as you must follow plain packaging.
• You must label the cannabis product with a mandatory health warning, cannabis symbol, and specific information about the product.
• You must sell cannabis to buyers aged 19 and older in Ontario.

Here, it is worth mentioning that the government of Ontario has eliminated the lottery system to give licenses for selling cannabis and begun issuing around 20 licenses a month.

The following is the complete regulation guide published by the government. Download the PDF version by clicking here.

Top 3 cannabis apps you should analyze before developing your own

After the federal government legalized the use of cannabis in Canada, a sudden surge of cannabis mobile apps has been observed.

However, the market is still not intensified as many are still finding their way out of complex technologies and compliance requirements.

Looking for an app development company, business consultants, and compliance experts in one place?

We’re one of the most versatile IT companies based in Ontario.

With our in-house app developers, app designers, business experts, and even compliance consultants, we help you start the online marijuana dispensary from scratch.

Talking about the app, we develop any type of cannabis app you want for your business with the most useful yet affordable technologies.

We have been very active and successful in the healthcare industry and helped many organizations with mobile apps and compliance. We also build back-office software to manage your business operations as well as vendors, customers and team members. 

You only share your requirements, we share a complete roadmap followed by execution and support!

The following is our app development and delivery approach.