Nov 21, 2015 | Collective Operations, MMJ News
Two things concerning the U.S.A. and marijuana are inevitable. Firstly, we are moving towards a post-prohibition era. Secondly, medical and recreational marijuana will likely fall under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance when we have Federal Marijuana legalization. The reasons for this are hard to argue – marijuana can be utilized as both medicine and food.
How the Food and Drug Administration May Regulate
The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the regulation and supervision of, among others tobacco and medication. The keyword is public health. The FDA sets standards for the manufacture, distribution and supply of both. It wants to know the American public will be safe according to those standards.
Where necessary the Federal Drug Administration may also implement post-market drug safety surveillances, whereby is must be told of every unexpected, serious or fatal reaction to a medicine. Where it considers this a possibility, it lists the product on a schedule requiring a medical doctor to prescribe the product, and the end supplier to maintain records.
The Implications for Dispensaries and Cooperatives
These are likely to remain small and independent until the mainline financial sector includes them as their clients. Clearly, they do not have the administrative capacity of a Pfizer or a CVS Health. They will have to look to software-as-a-service solution on a cloud. Some of these providers are already in place.
What makes Marijuana Seed-to-Sale software special?
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Nov 16, 2015 | Collective Operations, MMJ News
Many medical marijuana dispensaries are forced to deal mainly in cash. Banks have been slow to grant traditional bank accounts to medical marijuana dispensaries (or related services). Without a bank account is difficult to set up a merchant account or accept credit card payments from patients. Allowing a patient to purchase on credit often increases the amount of daily transactions/totals.
MMJ businesses that are unable make deposits may accumulate large sums of cash, which is a risk. Also, having to pay cash for business expenses adds the further complication of not having a digital record available when completing tax returns. Inflows and outlays can be accidentally filed incorrectly, making accounting and record keeping difficult. Fortunately, this is avoidable.
How a Merchant Account Can Help Your Cannabis Business
Having the ability to accept “plastic” payments will increase average transaction size and total number of transactions. This will help insure you are maximizing your reimbursements and covering overhead. Luckily we found a high quality, cost effective merchant account provider for medical marijuana dispensaries (and related businesses). They are a well-established processor that has delivered cutting edge service since 2004. This cost-effective solution is performed via any smartphone. Once cleared, the funds are available within two days.
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Oct 16, 2015 | California Marijuana Laws, Collective Operations, Proposed MMJ Law Changes
The amended versions of California’s Assembly Bill 266 and Senate Bill 643 containing California’s take on medical marijuana may seem complex – but at least this time everything is neatly set out in Regulation AB 266 the Governor signed into law on October 9, 2015. However this is no guarantee that they are practical).
The regulations really are little more than a bureaucratic shove to get participants past the corncob-chewing era, and out in the open behaving like the rest of the food and drug fraternity. Cutting out the legalese (the authors must be paid per word) here is the bottom line on rules for packaging under Article 7 (Licensed Distributors, Dispensaries, and Transporters) at Section 19347(a).
- While MMJ products must be labeled and be in tamper-proof packages, these may not attract interest from children.
- Packaging must prominently display the following in clear and legible font (could be problematic when supplying individual doses)
– Date and place of manufacture
– The words “SCHEDULE I CONTROLLE SUBSTANCE.”
-“KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN AND ANIMALS” in bold print
– The restriction “FOR MEDICAL USE ONLY.”
- Packaging must also display the following warnings, again in clear and legible font.
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Sep 1, 2015 | Collective Operations, MMJ News
Most banks still won’t provide services to marijuana dispensaries. California’s Board of Equalization (BOE), the nation’s only elected tax commission, is coming up with a solution. They would like to fill that void and serve as sort of bank for the state’s legal marijuana sector.
‘That should be the minimum until the federal government acts,’ Fiona Ma, a member of the board said. “This is a big problem.” She is in charge of the tax policy administration and tax collections. She envisions the state’s cannabis businesses depositing money into an account with the board. The businesses would be able to withdraw from those accounts to pay employees and taxes through wire transfers. This would be very useful to marijuana dispensaries and allow for a simpler, new means of payment.
California becoming the first state in the U.S. to legalize medical marijuana usage – this law passed by voters in 1996. Now California is in line to legalize cannabis for recreation purposes similar to the other four states (Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska) and District of Columbia that are currently paving the way. Because banking laws havent come up to speed, marijuana-related businesses in those areas are largely forced to operate as all-cash enterprises.
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Jul 14, 2015 | Collective Operations
Reasonable compensation is not defined by numbers but can vary greatly depending on the experience of the individual, the number of people served, the hours worked and what people are being paid in a similar position (whether that be in MMJ industry or another non-profit setting). A highly educated individual who has given up a high paying job to purse a career in medical marijuana has a better chance justifying a high compensation package than someone with little real world experience (and no prior earning records).
Most California dispensaries are set up as a form of not-for-profit corporation or coop as opposed to a traditional 501c(3) nonprofit. However, we can look to the nonprofit arena for compensation guidelines – theses entities are in parallel to how a proper California medical marijuana dispensary should be run.
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Sep 4, 2014 | Collective Operations
By Carl Dorvil
At Forbes
Who’s on your board of directors?
Now, this may seem like a question that would be asked of someone who is running a corporation or a large business, not necessarily a startup. But, I’m not asking this in a business sense, I’m asking this in a personal sense: Who’s on your board?
Many of us have a small group of people that we reach out to whenever we make a major decision. This typically includes family members, friends, relatives, etc. For example, imagine that you are considering moving your family to another country. Who are the people you would talk to before making this decision? Those people are on your personal board of directors.
For most of us, we pick our board members by default. Certain people have always been around and they automatically become the ones that we talk to. However, I believe that you should put as much thought toward selecting your personal board as you would in selecting a corporate board — especially if you are running a business.
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