Best Commercial Cannabis Storage Practices for Compliance Success

Throughout the process of cultivating, manufacturing, transporting, and selling cannabis goods, there are strict rules and guidelines for every step of the way. Specifically, there are specific compliance guidelines related to commercial cannabis storage. These steps include properly storing and securing cannabis products, solvents, chemicals, pesticides, and any other materials necessary for daily operations. This brings us to the questions:

• What are the best practices for staying in compliance with proper commercial cannabis storage guidelines?
• What’s the best way to store cannabis long-term?

Read on for input from industry experts from coast to coast.

Storage for Cannabis Best Practices

For anyone in the cannabis industry, it’s critical to follow cannabis storage guidelines to remain compliant, protect your business, and maintain proper health and safety measures. Here are some of the best practices to follow not only for products but for records and materials too. 

1. Implement inventory audit processes

For dispensaries and retail storefronts, implementing inventory audit processes is crucial for compliance and optimal success. It helps to have a clearly outlined standard operating procedure (SOP) on inventory practices while also training each employee on the SOP and the inventory audit process. 

When performing internal audits, you gain the insight to optimize sales and orders while also identifying any issues with fraud or theft. Additionally, keeping records of internal audits can go a long way if or when issues are flagged with staff regulators. It’s recommended to check inventory weekly. However, cycle counting can help avoid the extra labor and effort each day. Cycle counting is defined as counting only a portion of your inventory at a scheduled time every month until all inventory has been “cycled through” and counted.

Outside of dispensaries, it’s still just as important for extractors, cultivators, and transporters to check the inventory of materials they use and keep track of any chemicals, solvents, or materials that require a state tag or that regulators could question. 

2. Secure storage

When it comes to cannabis storage guidelines, securing the storage is most important to maintaining compliance. Meeting security requirements can be as simple as identifying the proper lock, cannabis vault, dispensary money safe, or dispensary security safe for your business needs for long term cannabis storage. However, it can also be more in-depth and involved, such as maintaining video monitoring that works optimally 24/7. This also includes staying updated with regulatory changes as they occur. 

Without keeping up with regulatory changes regarding cannabis storage solutions, your business could be out of compliance without even knowing it. For example, recently Maryland made regulatory changes clarifying off-site video archiving requirements. Cannabis businesses are now required to store video surveillance footage for 90 days, rather than the previous requirement of 30 days. Maryland licensees also must share relevant recording footage upon request of the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission (MMCC) or law enforcement within 48 hours.

3. Maintain documents and records

Most state cannabis regulatory agencies have specific guidelines on the types of documents required to prove storage compliance and how long they should be stored for. Knowing this is just half the battle, though; implementing efficient practices to understand documentation requirements regularly, securely, and accurately is the rest.

Furthermore, one key part of cannabis storage guidelines for most states involves documenting the chain of custody for certain supplies and materials that are stored. For instance, Michigan clearly outlines in Rule 35: Storage of marihuana product guidelines that facilities must establish an adequate chain of custody and instructions for sample and storage requirements.

Documenting and maintaining records of your processes is another important practice for overall compliance. It’s imperative to implement documentation and record-keeping system that allows you to easily search and find records when you need them, especially for regulatory agents or compliance check-ins. If you’re storing documents online, ensure the program is safe and secure from online threats; cybersecurity can go a long way in reducing any security threats to your system.

4. Integrate technology

Implementing software to manage and automate your business’ storage practices allows you to track, monitor, record, and prove that standards were met in any given time period. This streamlined process will not only improve the compliance success of your business but will also give you invaluable insight into the operations of your business, including any changes that may be necessary for improvement. 

In the cannabis industry, staying in compliance is one of the most important factors for helping your business survive and thrive. When it comes to dispensary storage systems, maintaining compliance means it should be the top priority of every cannabis business owner. To ensure your business follows cannabis storage guidelines for compliance success, implementing automated systems can help. 

That’s just how ProCanna came to be. Designed by industry leaders, ProCanna is the all-in-one software solution to streamline compliance matters from A-Z. From implementing standard operating procedures, training employees, and storing important records to performing internal audits – we’ve covered all the bases for staying in line and on top of compliance with state-specific support.