How Do Cannabis Companies Stay Compliant With Regulators?

One of the biggest business news stories of the past few years has been the astronomic growth of the dynamic market for cannabis.

As states and countries have opted to liberalize their laws governing cannabis use, making it legal for recreational or medical use, many companies have seen the opportunity in the public’s appetite for cannabis products and built successful businesses around producing and selling cannabis.

At the same time, cannabis continues in most places to be a controlled substance – just because it is legal doesn’t mean it can be used in any fashion by any person. In countries like Canada, for example, there are strict regulations governing.

How cannabis can be cultivated.
Who can sell cannabis.
Where cannabis can be sold.
Who cannabis can be sold to.

These regulations are designed to keep cannabis out of the hands of children, and the profits out of the pockets of criminal organizations. But how does cannabis regulation work on the ground, and how do producers make sure they are staying compliant with government guidelines commercializing cannabis legally?

Seed-to-Sale Tracking

Most jurisdictions that have legalized the sale or prescription of cannabis products require producers to provide high level data about every plant they grow.

In Canada, for example, producers must track each individual plant from seed to sale: from the moment it is planted, through cultivation, harvest, processing, packaging, and shipping.

This requires storing and making large amounts of data accessible – no easy task when you are running a large cannabis facility!

Fortunately, there are software solutions available that can help with this data storage and tracking. One popular option uses barcodes and wireless trackers to help greenhouse workers log information in real-time.

The software also includes integrated solutions that make generating and filing regular reports easy and is designed to work within the particular regulatory framework each producer operates under.

Age Verification for Online Sales

Another key component of cannabis regulation governs online sales (in many jurisdictions, e-commerce dominates the cannabis industry). Cannabis cannot be sold to minors, but how can cannabis companies ensure their online customers are old enough to legally purchase products?

Before the legalization of recreational cannabis became widespread, solutions were already being pioneered through medical marijuana dispensary software that helps connect doctors, patients, and producers in seamless networks of verification.

This software uses sophisticated online checks to ensure that only customers or patients who are old enough to use cannabis – or have been given a prescription by a doctor – can access cannabis products online.

The legalization of cannabis has been a major step forward, both in terms of reducing the financial and social costs of policing, and in ensuring that patients have access to care that works for them.

But without advanced software that can help cultivators and producers stay compliant with government regulations, it is unlikely that cannabis legalization would have been as seamless or as successful as it has proven to be in jurisdictions like Canada that have opted to move forward with it.

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