Cannabis Compliance 101

James: Hey everybody! This is James from ABX. I am here today with Rachel. Rachel is one of our compliance experts here at CannaCraft. Rachel, can you tell us a little bit about your day-to-day.

Rachel: Absolutely. So what I do is I make sure that CannaCraft is in compliance with all the new state California cannabis laws.

James: Excellent. And there are a lot of them! As everybody knows there have been a lot of changes in California over the last few months and we’re here to talk about some of the frequently asked questions that come across Rachel’s desk on a daily basis.

Rachel: Yes.

James: Let’s just start from the top. Question 1: Why is cannabis more expensive?

Rachel: So that’s a really great question, James. The reason why cannabis is so expensive is because of the new taxations that the legislation has passed. So, prior to the legislation you were walking out of a dispensary paying around $30 for a vape cartridge. Now, you’re paying around $40-60, depending on what city or county you’re living in. So, the state mandate of 15 percent excise tax, and there’s also a cultivation tax. But your local cities and counties have passed ordinances with taxes varying from 0 percent to 20 percent. So if you’re living in Santa Barbara you’re paying an extra 20 percent tax, just because that’s because the city you live in. Berkeley residents, for example, are only paying 5 percent tax.

James: Why all the changes?

Rachel: Another great question, James. So, the changes are also because of legislation. And one of the biggest changes that we’ve had to make is to our packaging. So prior to legislation, you would walk into a dispensary, pick out your products, the retailer would put it in a bag for you, and you’d walk out. Now the manufacturer has to put their products – especially edibles – in a child-resistant opaque packaging. The manufacturer sends that product over to the retailer, and then the retailer has to put that in another opaque exit bag. So a lot of packaging here.

James: And a lot of plastic.

Rachel: Another big change that we’ve had to make is the discontinuation of our 240mg Satori Chocolate bars. So the THC limits have been limited to 10mg of THC per serving and 100mg of THC per package.

James: What happened to Candyland? Can I say it?

Rachel: Yes, you can say it. We are no longer able to print that on our packages. So even though Candyland lives, you’re not going to find any packaging that says Candyland. We’ve had to change it to CENSOREDLand because the regulations do not allow for the word “candy” to be on any medical or recreational cannabis products.

James: Another questions that we get all the time, why are we now missing from some dispensaries?

Rachel: The reason for that, James, is because as licensed manufacturers we are only able to sell to licensed retailers. So if we choose to sell to an unlicensed retailer we are liable to be fined from $1000 to $250,000 a day.

James: Our final question today comes directly from one of our followers. Will legislation ever go back to the way it was before?

Rachel: I don’t think legislation will ever go back to the way it was before, but I believe that we can move forward in a way that the legislature and patients will feel like their voices are being heard. And the way to do that is to reach out to your representative and let them know what changes that you want to see. And you can do that by going to findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov

James: Thanks everybody for tuning in today. And thank you Rachel for your time, your expertise, and everything that you and your team do for CannaCraft and keeping us compliant. Until next time, be sure to follow us @absolutextracts. And remember, find your adventure!