As the July 1 deadline for California’s cannabis transition window draws nearer and nearer, many retailers are holding fire sales to shed remaining 2017 inventory, which after July 1 is no longer allowed to be sold according to state requirements. MJ Biz Daily anticipated the fire sales with their post earlier this month looking at what to expect with the impending deadline. With the fire sale underway, MMLG’s compliance experts wanted to offer retailers a few handy pointers on how to remain compliant while moving units. Keep the following in mind:

• Know Your Customers, Track Their Purchases: Not in a creepy “Big Brother” way, but in a “customers are only allowed to legally purchase up to one ounce of flower or eight grams of cannabis concentrate in a day” way. Prop 64’s passage left no ambiguity about this. Retailers need to be especially mindful of this during a big fire sale, because the onus is on the retailer and not the consumer. Make sure your employees are aware of who is coming into your store and purchasing what during their shifts. Customers looking to take advantage of this sort of a situation could attempt to trick lax business owners by going in twice during two separate employee shifts (open/morning shift crew, evening/close shift crew). Be aware.
• No Freebies: Buy One, Get One for A Penny = Legal and compliant. Buy One, Get One Free = Busted! Deep discounts are perfectly acceptable, but giving away free product is not allowed under any circumstances. Just as our own Dr. Juli Crockett highlighted in her post on BCC audits, freebies are not allowed during fire sales.

Post-July 1, anticipate a crunch on lab tests. Hopefully, you’ve squared away all your testing requirements, but if you haven’t, unfortunately, you better expect a wait. Happy July 1, folks!