UPDATE (10/31/17 9:20PM):

From BioTrack: “We have offered, and the agency has accepted that, instead of completely shutting down traceability tonight at 11:59PM upon contract termination, we will continue to host the traceability system in read-only mode for an additional 72 hours, until Friday, November 3rd at 11:59PM. As before, no new data can be committed beyond midnight tonight.

Esteemed members of the 502 community,

What we need now more than ever, in this uncertain time of traceability limbo, is unification.

LICENSEES: Hire a third-party traceability integrator NOW. List below.

INTEGRATORS: Get on the Unified Contingency Plan. Outlined below

EVERYONE: Help us get the message out to licensees and integrators. Multiple ways to help outlined below

Please help us get the word out to other licensees. Some folks have been hearing about this traceability transition for weeks, and while our emails have considerable reach, they do not reach every licensee in the industry. Please, please, PLEASE, when you talk to other licensees, make sure they know this transition is happening and recommended steps to deal with it!!!

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LICENSEES: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

We are lucky that our third-party traceability software providers (called integrators) are looking out for us. They’ve all been working overtime preparing solutions for the contingency so that the rest of us don’t have to.

Your integrators are working fast and furious to prepare solutions that keep you in businessthroughout the traceability down-time without you having to worry about it.

The industry has a dozen or so integrators. If you are a licensee and you don’t already have a traceability software provider, you should hire an integrator now!!! The integrators are an important safety-net for our licensees. They are needed now more than ever before as the LCB’s traceability contingency puts licensees at increased risk of reporting noncompliance. Check with your integrator for any special instructions you might need to follow during the contingency.

The Cannabis Alliance recommends the following integrators (in alphabetical order). Each of them has indicated they are aware of and ready to cooperate with the Unified Contingency Plan. You do not need to switch integrators at this time, just make sure you have one:

BioTrackTHC

Dope Plow

Grow Flow

LeafLink

Mister Kraken

s2solutions

TraceWeed

WeedTraqr

We encourage all licensees (and ancillary businesses) to reach out to businesses you know to make sure they are aware of the coming changes. We are concerned that the word about this upcoming disruption has not been reaching all interested parties and we all need to chip in to help each other. This means: retailers, contact your vendor partners; producers and processors, reach out to other folks you know to make sure they are aware of the changes. We, at The Cannabis Alliance, will also be calling everyone we can find a number for to get the word out. If you would like to be part of that phone tree please let us know. It is in our best interest to help each other through this, please lend a hand.

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INTEGRATORS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

After talking with our 3rd party traceability integrator members (listed above) we, The Cannabis Alliance, would like to recommend the following steps be taken industry-wide to shelter us through the transition from BioTrackTHC to MJFreeway’s Leaf Data System.

First, we ask that all third party integrators take BioTrack up on their offer of a private-sector version of their traceability system. According to BioTrack, “this system would mirror the current traceability system and would include a web-interface for the licensees who have relied on the freely-provided MJ Traceability website.” You can learn about the plan here:

https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!topic/502cannabis/8AMVHvfs2wQ

In order to do this, all integrators will need to point their systems to a new URL-website(the base url is: https://wa.biotrackthc.net/). By doing this, “all functions and all data that is currently coordinated and exchanged between licensees would be nearly identical, if not perfectly identical, to the way things presently work.”

The Cannabis Alliance supports this option as the first contingency for our integrators because — as it is described — it presents the “path of least resistance” for the most stakeholders.

Second, we encourage all third party integrators to engage productively with the development of openTHC.  openTHC is a free interoperability platform piloted by WeedTraQR. It provides a standardized data-sharing mechanism for 502 operators and their integrators. And it’s FREE. We would like to continue to build on this option in order for the industry to have a true backup plan, that we have prepared for, in the event that Leaf Data Systems continues to be delayed. On the horizon, and regardless of LCB vendor outcomes, openTHC’s facilitation of non-mandatory data-transfer between 502 integrators provides a utility with obvious benefit to our members. The Alliance believes openTHC will continue to develop as a powerful data-tool, and we encourage its use and collaboration.

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The Alliance has reached out to each of the integrators listed above, each of them is presently aware of the situation and prepared to cooperate with the Unified Contingency Plan.

Here are some additional resources:

• Official LCB traceability resource:

  • https://lcb.wa.gov/mjtrace/traceabilitycontingencyplan

• Please register for WSLCB Marijuana Licensee Contingency Plan Reporting on Oct 30, 2017 10:00 AM PDT at:

  • https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1064229785448086017

Once again, please help us get the word out to other licensees. Please, please, PLEASE, when you talk to other licensees, make sure they know this is happening!!!

Thank you to everyone who has and continues to collaboratively produce solutions to the problems we all face together.