Denver Plans to Issue All Cannabis Delivery Licenses to Social Equity Applicants

Officials in Denver, Colo., are hatching a plan to reserve all cannabis delivery licenses for social equity applicants.

A proposal put forth by the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses would issue the licenses to social equity businesses and require all cannabis operators to use the social equity transporters to conduct deliveries, according to a Denverite report.

“There has not been as much participation in delivery partnerships between stores and transporters as we would have liked to have seen,” Department of Excise and Licenses Executive Director Molly Duplechian told the news outlet. “We’re hoping that this proposal will give them some certainty going forward.”

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The department will accept feedback for the next two weeks on the proposal, which the Denver City Council will review next month, Denverite reported.

If the plan advances, officials will lift a three-year exclusivity period for social equity businesses that launched in 2021, according to the news outlet.

“What we’re proposing is to remove the sunset of that exclusivity period and require stores to work with social equity transporters to conduct delivery,” Duplechian told Denverite. “We’re trying to remove all the barriers that we can that are out there so that we can see increased participation between stores and transporters to increase that opportunity.”

The proposal would also lower transporter and delivery licensing fees from $2,500 to $200 for social equity businesses, according to the news outlet.

To qualify as a social equity cannabis business, applicants must have lived in a disproportionately impacted area of Colorado for a minimum of 15 years between 1980 and 2010, have a past cannabis-related arrest or criminal record, and have a household income in the year prior to the application that does not exceed 50% of the state’s median income, Denverite reported.