Where's Weed Takes a Stance on Unlicensed Cannabis Businesses

At Where's Weed, we take legal compliance very seriously. Our main objective is to connect licensed dispensaries, delivery services, and other cannabis businesses with our consumers. Where's Weed does not work with unlicensed businesses in any capacity. To ensure our consumers have a safe and legal experience, we only list U.S. state-licensed businesses and licensed Canadian companies within our directories and require all businesses to provide us with proof of licensure before being listed on our site or working with us directly.

Statement from Where's Weed:

Please note that we have recently removed businesses from our directory after determining that they were not operating in compliance with state laws. We are constantly monitoring our website to ensure compliance and may remove additional businesses in the future if we determine they are not licensed or do not otherwise meet our requirements. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and we appreciate the understanding of the importance of ensuring that all businesses we work with are complying with U.S. state (or Canadian) law.

Why Not Allow Unlicensed Businesses To Use Where's Weed?

As the cannabis market continues to grow, dispensaries, delivery services, and other cannabis businesses are opening at a rapid rate. Most states where cannabis is legal have strict regulations on businesses and require licenses that are often difficult to obtain or quite expensive. To make things more complicated, tight banking restrictions make it difficult for businesses to take out loans. Because of this, many marijuana businesses may choose to open without a valid license to avoid many of the regulations that the state requires and operate at a lower cost.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult for the average consumer to tell if a cannabis business is properly licensed. Unlicensed businesses may look just as professional and organized as any other, and are often able to operate for a period of time without getting caught. These unlicensed businesses can cut corners without proper oversight and often sell products that are low-quality, untested, and potentially dangerous to consumers.

By prohibiting unlicensed businesses from using our website, we first and foremost hope to protect our consumers. Additionally, we seek to protect those businesses that are operating in compliance with U.S. state (or Canadian) laws. We understand the importance of not taking away sales from licensed dispensaries, therefore allowing fairer advertising opportunities amidst a highly crowded industry. Lastly, a prohibition on unlicensed dispensaries encourages states and local governments to implement better legal regulations to protect consumers and business owners, while inevitably helping push federal legalization forward.

For Businesses:

If you're a business on our site who has a license and/or recently had a listing removed from our site by mistake, please email us at [email protected] and we'll work with you to get the listing live. Thanks for your understanding!