Relaxed mailing regs provide new opportunities for CBD firms

The sale and use of CBD and hemp-derived products has become more mainstream in recent years as recently evidenced by a June decision by the U.S. Postal Service announcement to allow those products to be shipped through the mail.

This less restrictive regulatory environment boosts opportunities for Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado CBD companies to deliver products to out-of-state markets with reduced risk of seizure by authorities. 

Since the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, which removed CBD from the federal government’s list of controlled substances, “the Postal Service has received numerous inquiries from commercial entities and individuals wishing to use the mail to transport cannabidiol oil and various other products derived from the cannabis plant,” according to a June USPS bulletin. “… In response to the inquiries, the Postal Service recently circulated an internal policy outlining specific acceptance criteria for CBD and cannabis-based products. In order to provide more clarity for mailers, the Postal Service is now issuing external guidelines, which clarify the circumstances under which hemp and hemp-based products can be mailed in domestic mail.”

SPONSORED CONTENT

The many benefits of simple, coordinated healthcare

Kaiser Permanente combines health care and coverage in one connected system to maximize employee health and minimize employer costs.

The USPS will allow companies to ship CBD products so long as they are “retaining documentation that shows that they are complying with all [federal hemp-related] laws,” according to the new postal service rules. “A mailer is not required to present the documentation at the time of mailing, but such documentation may be requested either at that time or on a later date if there is doubt about the item’s mailability or the addressee’s ability to legally receive it.”

Michael Harinen, chief marketing officer of Louisville-based CBD firm Bluebird Botanicals, said companies like his, which launched six years ago, “were very much radicals in the past because there weren’t strong legal protections in place.”

That is changing rapidly, he said. “It’s really been a crazy journey with this industry.”

Harinen said Bluebird has been fortunate to have a long-standing, productive relationship with local postmasters, but that was not always the case in other parts of the country.

“There have been a number of companies that were having their products seized and were gun shy about sending their products through the U.S. Postal service,” he said. 

That lack of consistency from the USPS and lack of confidence from the industry has limited some firms’ ability to grow online sales. 

“For some companies, this is really a godsend,” Harinen said of the relaxed USPS regulations. “Now that [the postal service] is more open, companies are feeling there is a whole new channel for sending products — it’s wonderful.”