UK Online Cannabis Sellers Using Royal Mail to Deliver
Cannabis sales in the UK are occurring openly and easily online. With advertising appearing in plain sight all over towns and cities and the product able to be delivered to your door, it is becoming hard to tell the difference between illegal drug websites and generic websites selling legal goods and services.
With well-made, professional websites that offer customised services like discount codes, and the option to both track and review your orders - drug dealing has indeed moved into the digital age.
A Google search for cannabis delivery services will now turn up a smorgasbord of results, some of which are openly trading in still illegal products.
But how is it possible for these entrepreneurs to be so open about selling cannabis? One of the illegal cannabis delivery start-ups is even using Royal Mail post services to provide a door-to-door service.
Stickers advertising the illegal online cannabis store can be seen all over the tube lines right across London.
The stickers for the now-defunct Kanas. shop could be found plastered on tube lines across London, openly advertising illegal products. By disregarding the strategy of only advertising on the dark web, the site could be easily discovered using prevalent search engines.
The shipping section of the site even reads:
"We use Royal Mail to fulfil our deliveries. You will not be required to give a signature or ID when your package is delivered. If payment of your order is confirmed before 15:00 it will be dispatched on the same day.
Any confirmed orders received after 15:00 will be dispatched on the next business day."
When contacted by a national news agency, a Royal Mail representative was quoted as saying: “We often work closely with police forces and encourage our postmen and women to report any suspicious items to management, which will then be referred to the authorities.”
Where Does the UK Stand on Cannabis?
The UK currently has stringent laws on the production and supply of cannabis, with jail sentences of up to 14 years an unlimited fine, or both. Possession of the drug may also get you a maximum five-year prison sentence.
Some products are featured on the Kanas. shop website is listed as containing THC levels of 32%, with the site cautioning that they are aimed at "treating experienced patients suffering from chronic stress, pain, anxiety, depression, muscle spasms and insomnia.
Most legal medicinal cannabis strains are around 12-19% THC, however, experts advise that anything that measures above 15% should be categorised as having high levels of THC.
These websites are not a new concept. Previous news reports have been made on another illegal cannabis firm called Dispenseroo, and the numbers only seem to be growing.
The founder of Dispenseroo has previously been quoted as saying that he initially launched the site "because buying weed is a hard and convoluted process. There are a lot of fake dealers that scam people, a lot of robberies that happen, a lot of street crime, so when I was able to get good weed and thinking why shouldn't I be able to share this."
While the Kanas. shop has now been closed down, countless other sites have sprung up in its place. Customers are even turning to websites like Trustpilot to review online marketplaces and their products.
It has also become clear that these sites are becoming more prevalent on the police radar and that they are taking action in a bid to pursue online sellers through a range of ongoing operations.
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