Cannabis compliance, in plain language.
The vocabulary regulators, inspectors, and operators use day-to-day — defined the way our team defines it when we're writing checklists and SOPs. No filler, no jargon dressed up as more jargon.
C
COA
A laboratory-issued document reporting the test results for a specific cannabis batch — potency, contaminants, residual solvents, microbials, heavy metals — required before a product can be transferred to retail in most regulated states.
Chain of Custody
An unbroken, documented record of who possessed, handled, and transferred a specific cannabis product or sample at every point from cultivation to final sale — required to be reconstructable from records during an inspection.
Corrective Action
The documented set of steps an operator takes to remediate a compliance violation, prevent recurrence, and demonstrate the fix to the regulator — typically required as part of the formal response to a Notice of Violation.
M
METRC
The state-mandated cannabis seed-to-sale track-and-trace system operated by Franwell, used by most US adult-use and medical states to record every plant, package, transfer, and sale of regulated cannabis.
Manifest
A regulator-required document accompanying every transfer of regulated cannabis between two licensed facilities — listing the driver, vehicle, route, items, and METRC package tags being moved.
R
R&D Transfer
A regulated, limited-quantity transfer of cannabis from a licensee to a testing laboratory or another licensee for research and development purposes — typically before the product has a passing COA — recorded in METRC under a specific R&D transfer type.
RFID Tag
A radio-frequency-identification label used in some state cannabis track-and-trace programs — most notably METRC plant tags — to attach a unique, machine-readable identifier to a plant or package that can be read at distance without line-of-sight.
Reconciliation
The recurring operational process of matching physical cannabis inventory to the quantities recorded in the state track-and-trace system, the ERP/seed-to-sale platform, and point-of-sale — identifying variances, documenting causes, and correcting the record.
S
SOP
A written, version-controlled document describing exactly how a regulated task is performed — required by state cannabis regulators for most operational activities and required to be acknowledged by every employee performing the task.
SOP Acknowledgment
The signed, time-stamped record that a specific employee read and understood a specific version of a Standard Operating Procedure — required by most state cannabis regulators for every employee performing the task the SOP governs.
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