5 Tips for Marijuana Dispensaries To Stay Compliant

Every dispensary runs the risk of being shut-down if they don’t operate according to regulations that qualify as state compliant. Medical marijuana retailers are scrutinized the most since they are responsible for the sales and safety of their customers. It’s extremely important for a marijuana dispensary to meet certain compliance standards to avoid closure.

Patient Verification

The first step in staying compliant is ensuring that every patient served has a physician’s recommendation. A good point-of-sale software can instantly verify a patient’s recommendation with any of the major verification systems. Once the patient’s recommendation has been verified, a digital copy will need to be filed under the patient’s profile.

Using a POS system that keeps track of when patient’s recommendation expires will reduce the risk of serving patient’s who haven’t renewed their recommendation. Selling medical marijuana to a patient with an expired recommendation violates State and local compliance regulations and can land a dispensary in hot water.

Inventory Tracking

Integrating your dispensaries inventory with an advanced POS software will give you peace of mind knowing you’re state compliant. Manually tracking inventory can often lead to minor errors than could have major consequences. It is too important to leave to chance when there is a high volume turnover of flower and cannabis products. Using automated inventory tracking will guarantee accurate reporting to the state compliance system and keep your menu current.

Compliance software such as IndicaOnline is a safety net for dispensary owners and a time-saver for staff who can redirect their efforts to serving patients. This compliance technology can generate detailed inventory reports that can be saved in the event of a state inspection. An added benefits of these reports is the ability to analyze high selling products to make informed decisions when re-ordering.

State Reporting

A large majority of dispensaries that are shut-down by the state, fail to report earnings to the state compliance system. This can be the nail in the coffin for many cannabis collectives, but is easily avoidable by using an automated POS system. A well-designed compliance software will integrate directly with the state’s reporting system eliminating the chance of human error.

This is invaluable to a marijuana dispensary as it will alleviate any compliance concerns and allow a business to operate more efficiently. When selecting a cannabis POS system, you’ll want to make sure the compliance software can function offline. Once back online, the software should sync the stored data protecting the dispensary from any compliance infractions.  

Sales Limits

While all dispensary staff should be aware of the sales limit amounts per customer, having a POS system that alerts budtenders of overages is a recommended safeguard. Limitations can be tough to calculate for an new budtender while checking out a patient purchasing a variety of cannabis infused products.

IndicaOnline’s compliance software is taylor-made for each state’s compliance rules so dispensaries never have to worry about exceeding transaction limits. As soon as the limit has been met, the POS notifies the budtender and can adjust the purchase to stay compliant.

Compliant Labeling

The devil is in the details and it’s fair to say that detailed labeling is essential to staying compliant. Some state’s compliancy regulations go so far as mandating the font size and style. Other label requirements include: company name, net weight, lab test results, recognized medical symbols, activation time, packaging ID, required warnings, potential allergens, THC/CBD levels, and the list goes on.

This information can be input into label templates using a cutting edge POS software. After the label information has been entered once, an integrated label printer will provide the compliant label as soon as the product is added to the patient’s cart. 

The IndicaOnline POS system simplifies state compliancy and streamlines dispensary operations. If your dispensary is struggling to stay compliant sign-up for a free demo of our powerful point-of-sale software.