Columbia Care Launches Cannabis Credit Card

Columbia Care, a medical cannabis company that has licenses in 15 jurisdictions in the European Union and the U.S., is launching the Columbia National Credit program with its new CNC Card, according to a release by the company.

Launch of the credit card comes after a successful test run in New York. This is the first time consumers in the United States can use a credit card to buy cannabis, the company said.

The program will expand to Delaware and Pennsylvania later in June and then into Arizona and Illinois. The company plans to have the card available to all of its markets by the end of the year. It will first be available at Columbia Care dispensaries only, but the company is looking into partnerships with other companies.

“We are in the business of expanding the entire national cannabis market, and this is exactly the type of industry-wide challenge our team excels at solving. By launching the first credit card in the country that can be used by consumers and industry participants to purchase cannabis products, we now exclusively offer an important capability that will serve Columbia Care’s national growth initiatives, including home delivery, automatic fulfillment and e-commerce,” said Nicholas Vita, chief executive officer of Columbia Care. “If given the choice to pay with credit or cash, consumers prefer credit, and until now, the cannabis industry has been predominantly cash-based due to restrictions on the use of credit cards for cannabis purchases.”

When the company launched the card in New York, it noticed that basket size increased 18 percent when the card was used. Also upon introduction of the card, home delivery users became the company’s fastest growing segment.

“We are encouraged by the overall results of our pilot program and the impact it has had on our home delivery customers, who are often unable to visit our dispensaries for a variety of reasons,” Vita said. “Based on our success in New York, one of the most demanding retail markets in the world, we are confident that the CNC Card has the potential to be a significant value add for the company and for all of our customers who look to us for reliable and convenient high-quality health and wellness options.”