Norman dispensaries look ahead to May deadline for seed-to-sale program compliance

Mar. 3—Medical marijuana businesses in the state are now on the clock to comply with requirements to use a uniform seed-to-sale tracking system on their products — a provision that's yielded mixed reactions from Norman dispensers.

The businesses have until May 26 to ensure their compliance with Metrc, a Florida-based inventory tracking program which functions as a seed-to-sale regulatory system. The initial deadline for compliance was April 30, but a lawsuit by a Tulsa-based dispensary owner and Viridian Legal Services, which represented over 10,000 of Oklahoma's cannabis businesses, halted the rollout.

The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority, Metrc and plaintiffs reached an agreement Feb. 25, allowing the system to move forward in 90 days.

Enforcement agencies use data inconsistencies in Metrc to detect diversion. Egregious red flags can result in an investigation by a state's respective agencies, according to the agency website.

According to the order signed by District Judge Natalie Mai, dispensaries have until Aug. 24 to sell or legally dispose of untagged medical marijuana products in their inventories. The agency is required to conduct a minimum of five online seminars by the May 26 deadline to educate licensees on the Metrc system.

With a deadline in sight, some Norman dispensaries are preparing for the change while others are already using the system. Their perspectives on Metrc range from pleased with greater regulation to frustration that Metric is not operated within Oklahoma, thus keeping tax dollars out of the state.

Tim Gaulden, who co-owns Chronic Solutions, 1808 W Lindsey St., with his wife Jessica, said the use of Metrc will help to ensure compliance and hopefully get rid of illegal operators.

Buzz Banfield, vice president of operations for Native Harvest dispensaries, suspects many dispensaries, farms and processing facilities are not compliant with state law, but have flown under the radar.

In the coming months, Banfield is opening multiple Native Harvest locations in Edmond and Guthrie. He believes the Metrc requirement will eliminate competition by identifying wilful and repeat offenders.

Banfield is certain his business will be ready for the May deadline.

"The OMMA could come in right now and we would be just fine," Banfield said. "We are fully compliant, and [stores] like us look forward to it."

Gaulden said once everything is updated, future products can be added to the inventory with a quick scan of the Metrc tag.

"Whenever we get products, it's already tagged, so we just have to scan it into our system," Gaulden said. "It can track everything."

Additionally, Gaulden anticipates that tagging all the products and building the inventory in the system will be time consuming and the use of Metrc will add to operating costs.

"We don't really care for that, but what else can you do?" he said.

Metrc charges users $40 a month per license, and tags for each product are 25 cents.

Taylor Lyon, owner of Proper Cannabis, said having a seed-to-sale system protects the quality of medicine for patients.

Much like Gaulden and Banfield, Lyon said the Metrc requirement will eliminate some black market issues. But he also said the change is being forced on businesses in a free market.

"We didn't take all the tax money we generated to create our own in-house seed-to-sale system," Lyon said. "We need to have our own system, where the money we spend on Metric tags and the monthly cost associated with the platform are going back to our state, not going to an out of state company in Florida that doesn't pay Oklahoma taxes."

Jeff Elkins covers business, living and community stories for The Transcript. Reach him at jelkins@normantranscript.com or at @JeffElkins12 on Twitter.