Cannabis compliance is complicated. It’s constantly evolving, too, which makes it easy for business operators like you to make mistakes.
Unfortunately, no matter how well-intentioned your team is, a single mistake could result in catastrophic repercussions for your business.
Some repercussions could include:
- Negative reviews
- Legal action
- FDA involvement
- FTC action
Any of the above could result in more than just fees and penalties. Your business could also incur irreparable reputational harm that could permanently damage your ability to serve customers.
The only way to prevent this is to stay on top of the changing regulations and ensure your business is compliant. It’s easier said than done, but not impossible. And in the current regulatory landscape, it’s absolutely necessary.
In this article, we’ll examine three methods for cannabis compliance. We’ll go over the ins and outs of each so you can determine which method is best for your business. Keep reading to learn more.
3 Methods for Cannabis Compliance
Here are three options for remaining compliant in the cannabis, CBD, and hemp industries.
1. Hire a Compliance Consultant
This traditional, reliable method involves hiring a legal professional who specializes in compliance consulting for cannabis businesses.
Legal professionals understand the complexities of regulation. They know how to help you avoid costly mistakes, but their services come with a high price tag. This makes them inaccessible for a vast majority of smaller operators.
You can hire specialists to conduct annual reviews of your messaging and labels, which would make it an infrequent expense.
This option would leave your business vulnerable to changes in regulation. Anytime the federal, state, or local government adjusts the rules, your business could be at risk. Unfortunately, this happens more often than you might think.
This option also doesn’t cover any website copy adjustments, label changes, new product launches, or social media activity that occur between each consultation, which leaves an uncomfortable amount of room for error.
Truthfully, there are a lot of downsides to the traditional compliance consultant method. Until recently it was the best option for cannabis businesses. It’s a good option for multi-state operators and large enterprises, but smaller businesses could struggle to afford the support needed to really provide security and ensure quality for their customers.
2. Train Your Team About Cannabis Compliance
Smaller businesses could consider training themselves or their team members in compliance monitoring. This option is more affordable, but it still involves a significant upfront money and time investment.
Additionally, those who opt to learn about cannabis and hemp compliance will have to update their skills and knowledge as new information becomes available. They will also have to continually monitor new packages, labels, social media posts, and webpages to ensure none of the company’s messaging is non-compliant.
Ultimately, this is a decent option for smaller businesses, but it’s not ideal. It’s also not suggested for mid-to-large operators, as the workload would far outweigh the cost savings.
3. Use Cannabis Compliance Software
Advances in technology are making compliance monitoring more effective and accessible than ever before.
There are many hemp compliance software companies currently offering their services to the cannabis industry. But none of them supply the diverse suite of tools and functionalities that Qredible® does.
Qredible provides compliance capabilities and so much more. It is the best of a few different worlds: compliance software, consumer-facing digital registry, reviewing platform, and more.
When you become a Qredible pro, you will receive a comprehensive report on your business’s existing digital platform, including compliance rating, reviews, and brand history. For as long as you are in Qredible, we will actively monitor your messaging to ensure that you are notified the instant you become non-compliant in any way.
And the best part: pro subscriptions are available for less than the cost of a latte a day.
Here’s a little overview.
Using our compliance software, you can:
- Actively monitor your packages and labels
- Actively monitor your website and social media channels
- Get notified when changing regulations impact any of your online messaging
- Get notified when your licenses and registrations are about to expire
- Get notified when any of your partners are flagged for noncompliance
This hemp compliance software is more affordable, accessible, and effective than other methods of remaining compliant, which makes it the ideal solution for businesses of all sizes.
Stay Compliant. Be in Qredible.
Qredible does more than just offer you the most advanced CBD and hemp compliance software available. We also have a unique set of tools and features that are designed to help you grow and protect your business.
In Qredible, you can:
- Distinguish yourself from competitors
- Validate and verify your claims and certifications
- Network with other businesses, brands, and professionals
- Get curated cannabis news and information pertaining to your unique interests
- And more
Qredible is the cannabis industry’s only digital registry of validated and verified brands and businesses. In a few months, we’ll be launching a consumer-facing app where customers can review everything about your business. We’re on a mission to make the cannabis industry safer for everyone. If you want to get on board, contact us to schedule a free, no-obligation discussion.