Press Release: New Strategies 64 paper spotlights need for cannabis product authentication, offers recommendations for federal oversight of cannabis supply chain

The publication is an addendum to The One-plant Solution, a white paper released earlier this year that proposes a national unified cannabis policy and federal regulatory framework and identifies product authentication as a critical area of federal responsibility.

“Effective product authentication is fundamental to a successful federal cannabis regulatory system,” said Jordan Wellington, managing partner of Strategies 64. “Regulators need a reliable way to verify where products originated, how they moved through the supply chain, and whether they were produced and sold in compliance with applicable laws. Without it, product safety standards, youth access protections, marketing restrictions, and taxation are difficult to enforce, and regulated markets remain vulnerable to diversion and inversion.”

The new paper examines the two most commonly discussed approaches to cannabis product authentication: technology that monitors inventory and transactions throughout the supply chain, which many states are already using, and mandatory third-party distribution akin to the three-tier model applied to alcohol in the U.S.

Strategies 64 recommends leveraging technology and building on the inventory transparency systems already operating in state-regulated cannabis markets. State track-and-trace systems have more than a decade of real-world experience monitoring cannabis from cultivation through retail, and they can provide the foundation for a federal reporting framework that gives regulators visibility across state lines without requiring businesses to duplicate reporting or fundamentally restructure their operations.

The addendum also explores how modern data analysis and anomaly-detection tools could make that information substantially more useful to regulators. By analyzing inventory, transfer, pricing, testing, and sales data across markets, federal regulators could identify unusual activity and target enforcement toward potential diversion, inversion, tax avoidance, and other forms of noncompliance.

In contrast, the paper concludes that imposing a mandatory third-party distribution system modeled after alcohol would add costs, complexity, and market disruption without providing comparable regulatory benefits.

“The three-tier system was developed following the repeal of alcohol prohibition at a time when regulators lacked the technology to continuously monitor products through the supply chain,” Wellington said. “Today, inventory transparency technology can accomplish many of the same regulatory objectives more efficiently while providing regulators with significantly greater visibility. A modern product authentication framework can strengthen public health and safety, improve enforcement and tax compliance, and protect the integrity of regulated markets while minimizing unnecessary burdens on businesses.”

Read the full One-plant Solution white paper and the new Product Authentication addendum at one-plantsolution.org.