In their lawsuit against Missouri, Metrc, a national cannabis traceability system administered by Franwell, has lost its second court battle. In the appellate court ruling first reported by Law 360, Metrc’s request that medical cannabis providers pay for their own tracking tags was denied.
The lawsuit dates back to 2019 when Metrc sued the state, claiming that, in addition to the traceability system’s $5 million price tag, the company had the right to charge extra for the tracking tags. This is the second ruling against the company.
According to the appellate court ruling, “Metrc’s arguments are refuted by the plain language of the [request for proposal] which required Metrc to include in its firm, fixed price all costs Metrc intended to charge for its seed-to-sale tracking solution to function for both internal and external users.”
According to the Metrc website, the company uses Radio Identification tags (RFID tags) to track cannabis from “seed-to-sale.” Each tag is unique, cannot be re-used, and can cost anywhere from $0.25 to $.0.45 each. Additionally, there are two types of tags, “plant” tags and “package” tags.
In an email to Ganjaprenuer, Bronwyn Flores, Metrc spokesperson, shared Metrc’s statement about the court decision.
“Metrc strives to make it easy for state governments and legal cannabis businesses to comply with continuously evolving cannabis policies and regulations. While we are disappointed in this outcome, we are optimistic that we will be able to find a mutually beneficial agreement with the state and industry to support a safe medical cannabis market in Missouri.” — Flores, in a statement
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