by aBIZinaBOX Cannabis Practice has joined the METRC Track and Trace Program and is in the process of validating as an Integrator in the State of Oregon. The California Dept. of Food & Agriculture [“CDFA”] announced over the summer that it had selected Franwell Corp’s METRC system to use in the tracking or cannabis from “seed to sale among” California cannabis licensees. With the January 1, 2018 state level licensing system coming on line quickly, we made the decision to learn the platform. Here is the CDFA announcement:
METRC Track and Trace Program
METRC has both an industry side and regulatory side. The industry side is used to report the required events and information while the regulatory side is used for enforcement and compliance monitoring. Franwell believes that METRC can be the primary tool for fighting against diversion and illegal use and purchase of cannabis.
Regulatory features
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Supports marijuana “regulations” with technology to prevent and monitor drug diversions
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Promotes public safety and patient product safety with traceability
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Addresses medical marijuana “diversion” from a “state mandated” position
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Creates a vertically integrated “closed-loop” medical marijuana regulatory scheme which stems, in part, from the landmark 2005 California case, Gonzales vs. Raich (If you can demonstrate a closed loop, in which no marijuana crosses state borders, it strengthens against federal intervention)
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By the use of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology combined with serialized item tracking, the system creates an “end to end” surveillance system where the municipality has real-time visibility at any given time into the “inventory” at all the locations (does not rely on audits for tracking)
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Central control of security through RFID secure tag ID
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Captures perpetual inventory quantities for each entity
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Provides an inspection process with the tools necessary to complete onsite validation of inventory with audit capability and anti-piracy safeguards
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Supports the auditing process from a series of exception reports
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Provides the industry with the means to report required inventories with minimal cost and investment – can remain cost neutral to the regulatory body.
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The system maintains a secure reporting environment for each industry participant. Each participant can access their own data but no other participants’ data. The regulator has access to all industry participants data
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The system provides for a real time digital transport manifest giving access to law enforcement enabling them to quickly discover illegal activity during transportation
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Tracks transfers between licensed premises
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Allows regulatory users to view all licensee activities captured in the system
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Creates audit trails and tools for assessing risk and channeling resources more efficiently (e.g. system notifications and reporting)
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Creates a industry database of analytical information to establish trends and benchmarks for marijuana production
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Allows criminal investigators to streamline field enforcement and compliance activities associated with licensees
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Provides aggregate data regarding cultivation, production, transportation and sales of marijuana within the regulated model
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Secure web hosted solution scaling to thousands of credentialed users
