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Recreational marijuana consumption is legal in most parts of North America. But making the converted herb legal didn’t kill the illegal weed business, so you can still get “brick” weed from dishonest dealers, especially if you buy weed online.
In an ideal world, buying weed is a sensory experience, which means you use your eyes, nose, and, depending on the rules, your hands. However, it is impossible to employ your senses when shopping for weed online.
Fortunately, there are legal online weed dispensaries that sell top-tier weed. Read on to find out how to tell the difference between trustworthy online weed dispensaries and illegal weed dealers.
Conduct Due Diligence on the Dispensary
Weed may be readily available to adults online, but acquiring a cannabis dispensary license requires meeting multiple regulatory requirements. For example, one of the rules for Canadian cannabis retail stores is that they must have a safe way to display and store their products. Also, the storage system should have a top-notch security system to stop theft and a tracking system to stop products from being stolen while being delivered.
The above terms and conditions are in place to protect consumer health and safety by ensuring that only the best online dispensary Canada qualifies for a license. So, anyone or any group that wants to open a marijuana dispensary in the country must have a building that meets the above requirements.
Most organizations that control cannabis have directories on their websites that list the names of all licensed cannabis dispensaries in their areas. This makes it easy to find dispensaries that are legal. However, in the absence of a comprehensive directory, watch out for the following telltale signs of an illicit online weed dispensary:
First, consider website aesthetics because a bona fide business cares about brand perception and consumer experience; hence, invest in intuitive websites. In contrast, illicit dealers only want to make a quick buck from unsuspecting buyers, so avoid disorganized websites with broken links and too many redirects.
Second, avoid online dispensaries with prices too low to be true. Illegal dealers who sell weed online don’t have to pay taxes or make an investment, so they can set prices that seem too low. However, their weed is likely low-quality because it does not undergo quality regulatory checks. Third, avoid dispensaries that purport to ship everywhere because licensed online weed dispensaries only ship to jurisdictions where recreational cannabis use and cannabis delivery services are legal.
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Read Reviews
Reading about the shopping experiences of other people in brand and product reviews can help you avoid having a bad time buying weed online. Moreover, some reviews may also recommend some of the top online weed dispensaries that deliver a fantastic end-to-end shopping experience.
Therefore, read consumer reviews before placing any orders with any online weed dispensary. You can read on-page brand reviews on the online dispensaries’ review tab or sift through consumer engagement on its social media pages. Second, cannabis consumer forums on various social media groups and cannabis apps are also good sources of verified consumer reviews.
Third, you can also read expert reviews of brands that are unbiased and come from sites that are known to be reliable and that only review licensed dispensaries. Lastly, you can also read brand reviews from trusted online review platforms.
Consider Online Dispensaries Selling Lab-tested Weed
Before delivery services bring cannabis products to your door, they go through a long process of being made. Moreover, cannabis is a delicate plant, meaning any mishandling, including poor storage, can lower its quality and potency. Second, weed buds may be exposed to toxins like pesticides and solvents left over from the extraction process, which could make them dangerous.
So, the authorities in each state require that cannabis products be tested in an independent lab before they can be sold to consumers. For instance, Health Canada demands mandatory third-party lab testing for active pesticide ingredients in all cannabis products before they hit the shelves. Several US states, like Washington, California, Oregon, Utah, and Massachusetts, also require independent lab testing of cannabis products in labs that are approved by the government.
Weed sold through legal online dispensaries comes from trusted brands and authorized distributors and has been lab-tested to make sure it is safe and high-quality. In contrast, illegal weed dealers do not sell lab-tested products and can sell unsafe, contaminated weed with degraded cannabinoids, lowering the product’s potency.
Online pot shops that sell lab-tested weed will have a certificate of analysis (COA) or a QR code on the product page that will take you to the lab results. Therefore, avoid weed dispensaries selling products with no COAs.
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Evaluate Customer Service Experiences
Legitimate weed delivery services hire qualified customer service teams to cater to your queries. Some jurisdictions, like Canada’s Alberta province, demand that individuals working in a weed dispensary full-time or part-time take a staff training certification course under the SellSafe program. Moreover, Nevada’s National Career Certification Board (NCCB) also offers a cannabis dispensary management program.
Customer service teams with these kinds of skills put educating customers first and are patient, polite, and helpful.
Shop Local
Most businesses are moving online, and you can save yourself the hassle of finding a new trusted online dispensary by finding your local dispensary online. Moreover, shopping local saves you hefty delivery fees while guaranteeing fast delivery. A quick search engine query on weed dispensaries near you should help you establish which local dispensaries are online.
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Conclusion:
Online weed shopping is convenient, but you have to do your research before you buy. This is a one-time task, though. So, use the tips above to find reliable online weed dispensaries and start shopping for weed in an easy way.
