Indopedia All Things Marijuana
Ever since recreational cannabis was legalized in Colorado, the market has exploded with profit and product. After selling a total of $1.3 billion worth of marijuana in 2016, you might wonder how local regulators are able to keep track of all this greenery. To do so, the state has instituted the METRC system, giving each plant a unique bar-coded electronic tag from seed-to-sale.
Although this network is created to track almost every aspect of the product, including weight, location, sale, and other information, there is still a glaring loophole that some cannabis seems to somehow fall through. However, dispensaries and employees who end up get caught breaking the law must pay a hefty price.
Last year, The Colorado Department of Revenue Marijuana Enforcement Division fined cannabis retailers to the tune $683,500. Outside of fines, businesses owners and employees sometimes even lost the ability to work within the industry. According to Denver’s local news station FOX31, there were 47 different marijuana dispensaries caught breaking the law.
In order to discover who is cheating the system, state enforcement looks at three primary parts of the METRC system: the…
