USPS Releases Guidelines On Legally Mailing Hemp Products

The U.S. Postal Service has recently issued external guidelines. They clarify updates it made to policy involving mailing cannabis and industrial hemp products among commercial businesses and individuals.

The agency includes its definition of “hemp-based products” CBD oil and other products derived from hemp. This also includes products designed for industrial use.

What the law says

There are two important aspects of the revision that mailers should carefully take note of. One is that “mailers are responsible for their own compliance with all laws and regulations governing mailability.”

This means that the mailers, whether individuals or companies, should check beforehand. For businesses, they should ensure that their products are compliant and they have complied with all necessary regulatory measures. For example, hemp farmers, entrepreneurs, and startups should have all pertinent licenses, i.e. as cultivator, grower or seller.

Important update on mailing hemp products

The second important update on the policy is that after the issued official revision, “mailers will also be responsible for retaining documentation which shows that they are complying with all such laws.”

This update means that businesses or individuals keep the paperwork pertaining to the mailing transaction. Furthermore, the documents must support their legal products. They keep the paperwork for two years after the official date when the mailing took place. USPS has encouraged all cannabis businesses and involved individuals to make this documentation process part of their routine.

What do the updates mean to the U.S. cannabis industry?

USPS provides options for individuals and businesses. Delivery services are legal in California, Oregon, Nevada, and Massachusetts.

Even so, this does not stop other groups and entities from lodging complaints and calling for bans of delivery services. In California for example, as many as 24 cities lodged complaints against the California Bureau of Cannabis Control, asking to stop delivery services from operating within their jurisdictions. There has also been a state bill in support of this. However, the bill is tabled until the end of 2019.

Such bans have proven problematic for delivery companies, however, they are still thriving. For example, a pot delivery company like the San Franciso-based Eaze has an annual revenue of more than $4 million. Furthermore, they have access to 450,000 customers.

USPS revised policy: A big step forward

According to New Frontier Data, the U.S. market for industrial hemp is growing to become a $2.6-billion industry by 2022. The U.S. hemp-derived CBD market alone expects to grow to $1.3 billion by 2022.

There is still the U.S. medical cannabis sales which could be worth $19 billion with a recreational market worth of about $49 billion. Globally, if all U.S. states and countries in Europe are to make cannabis legal, adding to the Canadian pot market, the international cannabis market could grow to as much as $194 billion in about seven years.     

With that, the latest move from the USPS signals a significant push for the country to attain streamlined marijuana laws, making it easier for U.S. companies to participate in the multi-billion dollar industry in the future.

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