App launched to aid marijuana industry compliance
By John McPhaul
jpmcphaul@gmail.com
Puerto Rico Legal Marijuana (PRLM) President Goodwin Aldarondo announced Monday the launch of a mobile application designed to help companies in the medical cannabis industry to be in compliance with government regulations.
The app will also reduce inspection time and prevent unnecessary fines, Aldarondo said. The mobile application, Cannabis Comply App, will work for the regulation that applies to manufacturing, cultivation and dispensary companies.
“The cannabis industry is one of the most regulated in Puerto Rico, where entrepreneurs have to keep up with the compliance of all aspects of their business,” Aldarondo said. “Added to this is the lack of uniformity, consistency and formality in the inspections of companies carried out by the Cannabis Regulatory Board, which often results in fines of $25,000 for each infraction and even orders for the temporary closure of the establishment.”
“All of this makes for a complicated and exhausting situation, especially for those just starting out in the industry,” he added. “Faced with this scenario, and with the experience that we have in PRLM advising companies, specifically on certifications and regulations, we gave way to the creation of this application whose purpose is to be the best resource that an entrepreneur can have to help him or her with everything related to obligations with the government.”
The PRLM president said that through the Cannabis Comply App, businesspeople will have access, in one place and in the palm of their hand, to all the existing information on the current regulations that apply to their commercial activity. In this way, entrepreneurs will be able to conduct preventive inspections of their business to analyze in which areas it could be in noncompliance, either because they are in the process of opening their business or because they are close to renewing their permit or license, the documents that they must submit to the government, important dates, new provisions of law or regulations, among other things.
Cannabis Comply App includes the 257 checkpoints that comprise the compliance inspection of Regulation 9038 of the island Health Department, applicable according to the type of business: dispensaries, growers or manufacturers. In addition, it provides entrepreneurs with the opportunity to generate a report of the preventive inspection made of the business, as well as the rising cost for each infraction detected, giving them the opportunity to correct them in time. The report will be kept in the cloud so as not to overload the storage capacity of the electronic equipment where the APP has been installed.
“For example, in the case of new companies, the Cannabis Comply App will help them prepare to comply with the provisions of Regulation 9038 and be ready for the final inspection, and thus receive, without delay, the approval for the start of operations,” Aldarondo said. “Likewise, by using this application, entrepreneurs will be prepared to defend themselves against determinations made during the inspection that do not apply to their commercial activity or that are not correct. All this, in turn, will result in the benefit of reducing the time it takes for an inspection, which can take up to four hours, and now could be reduced to two hours.
The Cannabis Comply App, which is available in Spanish and English, can be used on smartphones and Android, tablets and devices with IOS system (Apple). It is compatible with Biotrack, the industry’s compliance software, and will be constantly updated with the changes that arise from the regulatory entities.