“Cannabis compliance is the single most important thing a canna-business can do to ensure its success,” that’s our CEO and founder, Aaron Lachant. While Aaron “Yours In Compliance” Lachant is not the most impartial voice on the matter, he’s also 100% correct.

Look, we get it. Compliance, the art and science of mastering regulatory bureaucracy and its idiosyncratic foibles is not sexy. We know that you’re all curious about the next “killer investment” or “when New York’s going legal?!“; and that MMLG won’t be gracing the front page of a business section or scoring that Bloomberg profile any time soon. However, compliance is also the single easiest way to ensure your company’s short and long-term success. Let’s review.

Non-Compliance Consequences Far Outweigh the Upfront Costs of Cannabis Compliance

Recently in Colorado, one of the plant-touching industry’s most high-profile legal cases was unfolding. Sweet Leaf, heretofore a popular and seemingly above-the-board retail chain, was busted for “looping” back in 2017. What was initially thought of as  some budtenders acting badly turned out to be far more complex and “executive level” shall we say.  The Sweet Leaf punishments have been sweeping:

• Denver authorities mandated that the company surrender all of its 26 licenses
• The three owners of the retail chain were ordered to pay $2 million in fines, and ordered to stay out of Colorado marijuana for 15 years
• A judge later determined the principal owners were culpable for $8.8 million in unpaid rent, late fees and interest on breaches of four separate business leases

If nothing else, hopefully Sweet Leaf’s devastating punishment and essential dissolution for non-compliance –looping in every state is very illegal, gang– is a primer for you and your business on how affordable compliance is versus the alternative.

And the hits don’t stop in Colorado, just this week MJ Biz Daily reported that a California cultivator was busted because they, in the words of investigators, “provided false information during the county cannabis application process and was failing to follow proper shipping and manifest procedures.” Yikes. The critical takeaway from these cautionary tales? Well, aside from the obvious, is this: The costs of non-compliance are not only devastating, they’re also becoming more frequent as municipal and state authorities catch up with both bad actors and businesses not in the know.

“More and more, the cost and timing of front-end compliance seems like a bargain compared to addressing these issues while the organization is in crisis,” Lachant explains. “I am aware of two cases where businesses were dinged by the BCC (California’s Bureau of Cannabis Control) during audits. The cost of responding to the Notice to Comply has been tens of thousands of dollars. Due to the seriousness of the violation, key employees have been let go from the organizations. In addition, lots of time is lost in implementing corrective action, working on response, adjusting standard operating procedures, and training. Also, there is the emotional cost of the fear of possibly losing one’s license and livelihood.”

Still not convinced? Check out this handy video of ours that’s narrated by none other our director of compliance, Juli Crockett!

Let’s Get Your Cannabis Business Compliant!

Sorry for all that fear mongering in the previous section. But let’s get serious about cannabis compliance for your company.  First things first: Familiarize yourself with your state and local cannabis regulations. The State of California has all regulations updated on the BCC’s site. Additionally, our good friends at the NCIA have a state-by-state breakdown of regulations.

Have specific compliance questions about your state or municipality? Reach out to us and learn from our Director of Compliance, Dr. Juli Crockett. Not familiar with Juli’s work? Here are two examples. Unfamiliar with the services we provide for our clients? We go a lot deeper than “just licensing.” We want your business to get that license, but we also want you to keep that license. That means we provide in-depth regulatory audits of your business and then walk you through what needs to be done to ensure that you are within compliance.

Concerned about Metrc and track-and-trace for your company? MMLG has you covered there as well. We provide in-depth and bespoke compliance services. From internal audits, to inventory reconciliations to, yep, even Metrc and track-and-trace; our full-service cannabis compliance team has your back.

The Utility of Compliance In Cannabis Goes Beyond “Keeping The Lights On”

To be clear, we’re here and in the compliance game to help our amazing clients stay in business. However, cannabis compliance plays an active role in helping the entire plant-touching industry grow, too. How so? Let’s spell it out: compliance keeps bad actors and illegal operations from cutting even deeper into the bottom lines of legal operations. Looping, the shenanigans that cost Sweet Leaf so dearly, is so serious because it’s an incredibly easy method to supply illegal sellers with cannabis flower and rendered goods at a huge mark-up from unlicensed businesses. The cost to legal businesses and the state is compounded by the fact that the products being sold are then not being taxed or inventoried.

Additionally, continued licensure by remaining compliant with new or updated regulations at the state and local level provides local and state regulators with a clearer picture of who is and who is not compliant. Thus affording enforcement clearer data on who authorities should be throwing the book at.

Cannabis can be an expensive industry to break into. Between costly licensing fees on local and state levels, burdensome taxes, shifting regulations, rental costs, operations, marketing, and more, it’s not cheap. But compliance is one thing you and your business should not be cutting corners on. If for no other reason, you shouldn’t cut costs on compliance for the simple fact that getting stung for non-compliance can cost you so much more.

The gist is pretty straightforward, the real costs of non-compliance are staggering. Punitive fines, paying for mandatory employee training, days of lost revenue due to your business being shuttered, forfeiting your license, uhh, prison. Yep, pretty staggering,  and far more encompassing than “just a fine.” Want to feel #Blessed🙏🏽 and keep your business on firm legal ground? Compliance, baby!