Imagine trying to track by hand every gram of cannabis in the legal marijuana industry. It would be virtually impossible, not to mention inefficient — but tracking is still required. Fortunately, there’s a better way to contend with tracking and the other implications of evolving government regulation surrounding marijuana: technology.
Without tech solutions such as cannabis traceability systems, municipalities and statewide governing bodies will struggle to follow marijuana from seed to sale. They’ll also struggle to evolve in step with changing community, societal, and federal regulations and expectations as they relate to medicinal and recreational cannabis use.
Why, then, don’t more states and local governments leverage the power of technology or automated solutions when it comes to marijuana regulation? In many cases, the problem is that they don’t know what they need in order to measure, monitor, and control the flow of cannabis through properly credentialed and authorized dispensaries. And trying to pinpoint where the spread of illegal marijuana falls into the equation makes the issue seem doubly difficult.
Another pain point involves knowing how best to use new marijuana technology to bring together all the confusing — and sometimes conflicting — laws and regulations surrounding cannabis. Even governments that are able to navigate emerging legislation might feel overwhelmed by trying to balance all the unique aspects of legalized marijuana with business expectations (such as paying appropriate taxes, setting competitive prices, and labeling products appropriately and according to current standards).
Despite these obstacles, technology needs to be considered to navigate the changes that come with the legalization of marijuana. After all, states and municipalities that embrace digital and cloud-based tools will simplify their processes and improve their ability to operate in this uncharted territory.
Using Technology to Navigate Marijuana Regulations
To deploy tech solutions designed to help you navigate, understand, and operate in a way that’s compliant with evolving marijuana regulations and mitigate related obstacles, take the following steps:
1. Test no-code and low-code tech platforms.
One of the most underrated benefits of a powerful portal such as Salesforce is that it can be implemented and programmed by people without deep and technical coding knowledge. This makes it an effective solution for automating and managing marijuana legislation workflows rapidly. At the same time, these types of platforms can become centralized knowledge bases built for scalability and flexibility.
2. Look for tech stack integrations and tools with built-in components and data models.
When you want a powerful foundation, find software that empowers you to adapt. You’ll need this type of tech because state and federal marijuana legislation changes quickly — and often. When the rules do change, you won’t have to pay developers to alter your configurations.
3. Lean into automation and cloud-based hosting.
Technology enables you to stop relying on repetitive tasks and physical servers, not to mention the hardware and maintenance that goes with them. Plenty of cloud-based technology programs can automate much of the work your team members are currently doing manually, such as moving information slowly from one portal to another. This automation both reduces risk and error. At the same time, it frees up you and your colleagues so everyone can stay up to date with marijuana legislation shifts.
Governments have been slow to make the most of the latest technological advancements on the private market. However, those that want to feel more confident in the way they approach each iteration of local, state, and federal marijuana legislation will see immediate and significant benefits when they take advantage of everything these tech solutions have to offer.