Though federal legalization of cannabis has hit a few snags over the last few months, federalization in the U.S. is inching closer and closer to realization. Case in point, President Joe Biden signed the Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act (MMCREA) into law in December 2022, limiting federal restrictions on medical marijuana research and on the development and cultivation of research-grade marijuana.
Provisions of the law include streamlining the registration process for marijuana research and advancing the research for the development of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs that use marijuana or cannabidiol. It also opens the door for State-licensed physicians to discuss the potential harms and benefits of marijuana and marijuana derivatives, such as cannabidiol, with their patients.
In a Cannabis Business Times article, authors Joshua Horn, Robert Eisentrout and William Bogot explain why the passage of this bi-partisan, “standalone federal cannabis law”—the first of its kind—is so important:
If this law acts as intended to generate significant research supportive of the medical efficacy of cannabis, Congress may be forced to seriously consider further cannabis reform. This law also addresses the primary argument of industry opponents by asking for, among other things, research on how cannabis affects our ability to drive. Research on this and other subjects will better inform the discussion about broader federal cannabis reform.
MMCREA is a big step for the cannabis industry, and Multi-State Operators (MSOs) need to prepare for the potential changes it may bring. Part of that vital preparation is ensuring they have effective quality measures in place to adapt if or when federal legalization occurs.
Struggling with Ineffective Quality Measures
Providing consistent, high-quality cannabis products requires standardizing operational processes, procedures and expectations. When successful, the result is loyal customers, but many cannabis organizations are relying on a hodgepodge of disconnected systems to run their business. This makes it impossible for them to form a cohesive, smooth-running operation, which minimizes their quality management capabilities and reduces their visibility into their financial and operational data across the organization.
Such managerial and operational deficiencies hinder MSOs ability to grow their businesses in different states. For example, each state has varying testing requirements, and MSOs must adhere to each one in order to provide cannabis products in one state that are of equal quality in another state. Without the right quality management tool to help them, they struggle with ineffective quality measures and the ability to produce uniformly great cannabis products.
But that’s not their only struggle.
MSOs’ long hoped-for federalization would bring an extra layer of regulations—on top of existing state and local requirements—for growing, packing, testing and marketing, which will likely create conflicting laws and gray areas. Navigating these many evolving regulations will be incredibly challenging for MSOs if they’re unable to efficiently manage and streamline audits, financial compliance, lot traceability and more.
With these challenges in mind, it’s clear that MSOs must build their operations for the current industry but have the ability to pivot if—or when—legalization at the federal level occurs. Fortunately, MSOs will be able to do just that if they implement an industry-specific Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution, like CannaBusiness ERP.
Cannabis ERP Ensures Quality for Now and in the Future
CannaBusiness ERP—built in Sage X3 and delivered by NexTec experts—helps cannabis businesses collect, synchronize and analyze their business data within one, comprehensive database. It supports cannabis finance, manufacturing, inventory, seed-to-sale, traceability, compliance and quality needs with specialized features and functionalities.
These cannabis ERP features and functionalities enable cannabis businesses to easily:
- Adhere to regulations and support EU GMP standards and U.S. State/Health Canada reporting.
- Integrate multiuser checklists and quality audits for inspections to assure conformance to specifications.
- Ensure safety with full lot/serial traceability, product recall management and comprehensive allergen tracking.
- Simplify the management and delegation of tasks with role-based testing and control.
For a real-life example of how cannabis software empowers quality assurance, consider CannaBusiness ERP customer Pure Greens.
Pure Greens is a growing wholesale cultivator that, from its inception, has been committed to compliance, quality, reliability and operational excellence. Unfortunately, according to its CannaBusiness ERP Customer Story, Pure Greens was relying on “incomplete, homegrown and cobbled together” platforms that were incapable of addressing their many cannabis manufacturing needs.
President and CEO Sterling Stoudenmire shares how challenging it was to extract data from these platforms. “I spent many late nights only to find out the database was a black hole. You couldn’t get to your data or find out what was going on.”
There were other major hurdles, including unnecessary staff workarounds, lack of function and user controls, and the inability to expand with multi-site operations, so Stoudenmire began the search for new technologies that could manage the cannabis industry’s varied and unique requirements. When he found CannaBusiness ERP and NexTec, an amazing partnership was formed and many benefits were felt, including the ability to make informed, strategic and quality-based business decisions.
Says Stoudenmire, “One of the biggest changes for me is a consolidated view of all the moving parts of our organization so that I have the ability to look out in front of the bus and see what’s coming. It’s quality control overall, knowing statistically what’s happening, knowing what’s failing, where and why. CannaBusiness ERP gives me a 360-degree view of things,”
Ensure Effective Quality Management with CannaBusiness ERP
Like Pure Greens, all MSOs can ensure effective quality management by utilizing CannaBusiness ERP. They’ll have the capabilities they need to smoothly carry on with operations if federalization occurs, and they can trust that NexTec will walk with them every step of the way.
“Sometimes the things we’ve needed have not been easy,” Stoudenmire says. “NexTec has always been very responsive with solutions.”
Contact our team of experts to find out how CannaBusiness ERP can help MSOs flourish today and tomorrow. We’d love to chat.