Check what you need for Cannabis Permit Part 2

Information you will need for the rest of the Cannabis Business Permit application.

What to do

The Office of Cannabis will send you links to relevant forms, depending on what you plan to do at your business.

In the forms, we will ask you for the following.

Community outreach

We will ask you to upload:

  • Your neighborhood notice, in English, Spanish, traditional Chinese, and Filipino
  • Name, phone number, and email address of an onsite manager of community relations
  • Sign-in sheets from neighborhood meetings
  • Minutes from neighborhood meetings
  • Information packets from neighborhood meetings
  • Any written input your neighbors provided

See details about meeting your neighbors

Information for an optional compassion program

We will ask you:

  • The populations you plan on serving
  • About how many patients will take part
  • How you will keep records and ensure patient privacy
  • How much of your inventory you will reserve for compassion patients

Equity goals

We want to know how you plan to:

  • Help equity businesses, such as rent free space and technical help
  • Provide opportunities to people harmed by the War on Drugs
  • Support San Francisco’s broader equity goals

See details about creating community benefits

Securing your business

We want to know how you plan to:

  • Keep your cannabis products secure
  • Control access to your business 
  • Handle employees changing roles or leaving your employment
  • Design your employee badge (as an upload)
  • Sign in contractors and vendors into your business
  • Install commercial-grade, nonresidential doors, locks, and windows
  • Set up your alarm system (features, police notification)
  • Work with your alarm system provider (contact information, license number, general manager information)
  • Set up your video surveillance system (provider, framerate, resolution, recording storage)
  • Check if the video surveillance is working (onsite employee contact)
  • Share your video surveillance system with another business, if applicable
  • Secure areas where cannabis products are stored
  • Secure your transport vehicles, if applicable (features, security staff)
  • Hire your security staff, if storefront retail (names, license numbers, roles)
  • Contract out your security staff, if applicable (provider, contact, copy of contract)
  • Share your security staff, if applicable 
  • Build out your space (uploaded as a premises diagram)

See details about securing your business

See details about drawing your premises diagram

General operations

We want to know how you plan to:

  • Fulfill San Francisco’s renewable energy mandate
  • Work with Recology to pick up your waste
  • Receive shipments
  • Ensure staff and public safety while shipments are received
  • Prevent theft while shipments are received
  • Record cannabis products when they are moved to and from inventory
  • Do inventory reconciliation
  • Log your products (including name and phone number of onsite employee overseeing track and trace)
  • Log hazardous materials, for cultivators, manufacturers, and testing laboratories
  • Safely store hazardous materials, for cultivators, manufacturers, and testing laboratories
  • Verify product labels
  • Check batches going in and out of storage
  • Prevent cannabis products from going bad
  • Handle returns
  • Transport cannabis, for distributors and retail business with multiple locations
  • Contract out for transportation services, if applicable (provider, contact, copy of contract)
  • Store cannabis products in your transport vehicle, if applicable
  • Prevent cannabis products from going bad during transport, if applicable
  • Keep medical cannabis stock, if storefront retail or delivery

See details about general cannabis business operations

Retail storefront operations

We want to know how you plan to:

  • Monitor traffic and handle parking around your store
  • Support your medical cannabis patients

We will also ask if you plan on having a consumption lounge.

See details about retail storefront operations

Retail delivery operations

We want to know how you plan to:

  • Process orders for delivery (processing software)
  • Receive orders
  • Prepare orders for delivery
  • Have drivers prepare to make deliveries
  • Store cannabis products in the delivery vehicle
  • Have drivers hand the product to the customer
  • Have drivers use navigation software
  • Log inventory after drivers make deliveries
  • Update the manifest after drivers make deliveries
  • Record deliveries
  • Have your delivery staff communicate with the business while out making deliveries
  • Manage delivery staff time (taking breaks and making stops)
  • Ensure the personal safety of your delivery staff
  • Train delivery staff about cannabis laws

See details about retail delivery operations

Cultivation operations

We want to know:

  • Total canopy space, including shelving
  • Wattage used by your lighting
  • Your water source, if not City water
  • Pesticides you will use
  • Fertilizers you will use
  • Propagation materials you will use

See details about cultivation operations

Manufacturing operations

We want to know:

  • If you will extract, package, and infuse cannabis
  • Your extraction solvents, if applicable
  • Your package design, if applicable (as an upload)
  • What kinds of products you will manufacture

See details about manufacturing operations

Distribution operations

We want to know how to plan to:

  • Store cannabis
  • Batch test samples

See details about distributor operations

Testing laboratory operations

We will ask you to upload:

  • Proof of your ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation application
  • State forms (Test Methods, Sampling, and Sampling Preparation)

See details about testing laboratory operations

Document for other agencies

We will ask you to upload:

After you apply

The Office of Cannabis will check your operations plans, neighborhood notices, and staffing.

Last updated June 30, 2022

Department