Article written for the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association’s magazine, 2021 first issue. (PDF)
It could be fairly said that without technology, the cannabis industry may never have gotten off the ground.
Inevitably tight regulations make running a cannabis business touchier than selling office supplies or even whiskey. Cannabis businesses must track every gram of the product from “seed to sale.” This includes even when cannabinoid oil is divvied into many products for many customers. Businesses and regulators must be able to identify where the products of a given plant are at any time.
Without technology, a grow operation would have to perform these tracking functions manually. It could be done, but it would so limit the business as to put a hard, low ceiling on how big the business could get, said Alexander Pavlis, chief compliance officer for Flint-based Narvona, a wholesale grower and distributor. Even still, “it would be real tedious.” Fortunately for cannabis entrepreneurs, their industry has taken off right as a new wave of technology pushes deeper into business and consumer life, as can be seen in its covid-induced accelerating pace. …