A new study conducted by Cannabis Public Policy Consulting found 100% of respondents viewed state-issued QR codes as making them feel more protected by their state cannabis regulator. Another 91% indicated the QR codes helped them better understand consumer safeguards and standards, while nearly 89% reported that it increased their confidence in their state’s legal cannabis market.
The study found 91% of respondents reported valuing state confirmation that a product is compliant, 89% reported valuing lab testing results, 88% reported valuing recall notifications, and 86% reported valuing detailed product information, including licensing details, and cannabinoid and terpene profiles. Eighty-eight percent of participants reported that having access to the information would help them distinguish regulated products from unregulated products, and nearly 90% reported that having access to the QR code functionality would make them more likely to purchase from a licensed dispensary rather than an unlicensed source.
In a statement, Mackenzie Slade, MPH, principal investigator at Cannabis Public Policy Consulting, said what stood out to the researchers “is that consumers and patients appear to value more than simply having access to expanded product information; they value knowing that the information comes from a trusted regulatory source.”
“In a market where regulated and unregulated products can be difficult for consumers to distinguish, a state-issued QR code provides an immediately recognizable signal that a product is part of the regulated system. Our findings are consistent with current literature on signaling theory, suggesting that consumers value both sides of that transparency: access to information about the product itself and greater visibility into the regulatory system behind it.” — Slade in a press release
The study also found broad support for making state-issued QR code transparency a standard feature across regulated cannabis products, with more than 95% of respondents agreeing that consumers should have the same level of information regardless of product type.
The study, “Transparency as Value: Past-Month Cannabis Consumer & Patient Responses to QR Code-Enabled Cannabis Product Information,” was commissioned by seed-to-sale technology company Metrc and surveyed over 3,000 recent cannabis consumers and medical cannabis patients across 33 U.S. jurisdictions with some form of legal cannabis access. Respondents were shown a cannabis product featuring an interactive state-issued QR code linked to detailed product, testing, and licensing information, then asked about their perceptions of the information and the value of access to the information.
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