They’re headquarters are in Washington, afterall
In a collaboration the likes of which we’ve never seen before, Microsoft will team up with a cannabis industry startup to provide software and tracking solutions for the sale of legal marijuana.
From seed to sale
Microsoft, which is headquartered in Washington, where cannabis is legal, finds an unexpected bedfellow in Kind Financial, a California-based startup that makes software for helping businesses and government agencies track legal cannabis from “seed to sale.” The software, Agrisoft Seed to Sale has been in use for about three years, and will become even more useful now that Kind will have access to Microsoft’s government cloud.
Microsoft Azure’s government cloud is a platform designed specifically to meet the data and software needs of the U.S. government, including certifications to ensure legal compliance.
Ensuring compliance with regulations
In the somewhat murky area of cannabis law, it has become essential to find solutions that complete “the loop between marijuana-related businesses, regulatory agencies, and financial institutions,” Kind Financial stated in a press release. By combining Kind’s expertise in the weed world with Microsoft’s government-specific platforms, the companies hope to “help agencies regulate and monitor controlled substances and items, and manage compliance with jurisdictional laws and regulations.” The program is called Kind Government Solutions.
Kind’s CEO, David Dinenberg, points out that, in all likelihood, cannabis “will always be subject to strict oversight and regulations similar to alcohol and tobacco.” This means that both businesses and the government have a responsibility to track marijuana sales and ensure compliance with government regulations.
The name of the game is transparency
Matt D. Cook, a marijuana law expert who will serve as Kind’s special advisor on government matters, feels that Kind Government Solution’s technology “offers the most advance software solutions available and provides government with critical tools to ensure transparency and accountability, which is imperative for government agencies managing a successful cannabis program.”
The fact that a major tech company is building software solutions for the marijuana industry is proof positive that cannabusiness has officially reached the mainstream.
