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A small but enthusiastic Fort Lauderdale firm is poised to realize high profits from a budding new industry with strong growth potential: medical marijuana.
BioTrackTHC – the THC stands for tetrahydrocannabinol, the pleasure-producing agent in pot – has developed a highly specialized system for tracking pot grown and sold legally for medicinal purposes.
Tracking plants from seed to sale meets safeguards established in states that allow medical marijuana to ensure the plants arrive at legitimate distribution centers and aren't channeled into the black market.
"Everything is highly regulated and monitored," said Steven Siegel, BioTrackTHC's owner and president. "Everybody plays by the rules because there are so many checks and balances."
To comply with regulations governing the growth and sale of medical marijuana, which vary from state to state, Siegel's firm has developed a sophisticated computerized system.
Through bar codes tagged to each plant, growers can maintain a record of its growth, weight, strain, even the route and time it takes during transport to a dispensary. Sellers use the system to track sales, trends, even how long a customer had to wait to receive his medicine.
All that information is relayed to state regulators, who can monitor each plant's progress.
"We've made it where the state can still collect all the information the way they need it," said T.J. Ferraro, BioTrackTHC's chief technology officer. "We are years ahead of anyone else out there."
BioTrackTHC has nine employees and was incorporated about five years ago with a $3 million to $5 million investment.
Andy Williams, who with his brother Peter owns the Medicine Man grow center and dispensary in Denver, has been happily using BioTrackTHC's system for about two years. "It does everything for us," he said. "It tracks so many statistics for us through all the stages of the plant's life."
The system costs $1,000 to $2,000 to install, and about $400 a month to run.
Pot tracking systems have several benefits, said Mason Tvert, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project, a Denver-based organization dedicated to pot legalization.
"There's a need to ensure that there are controls in place," he said. "There's a need to ensure that this product is only being sold in the places where it is allowed."
Tvert said the security tracking systems provide should encourage more state lawmakers to allow medical marijuana. "Elected officials will find it comforting to know that marijuana is being tracked," he said.
Currently, 18 states allow medical marijuana. Siegel, too, expects that number to rise. "We believe that we are at the beginning of something big," he said. "The opportunity to grow is just phenomenal."
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: sun-sentinel.com
Author: sun-sentinel.com
Contact: rnolin@tribune.com
Website: Fort Lauderdale company peddles system to track medical marijuana - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
BioTrackTHC – the THC stands for tetrahydrocannabinol, the pleasure-producing agent in pot – has developed a highly specialized system for tracking pot grown and sold legally for medicinal purposes.
Tracking plants from seed to sale meets safeguards established in states that allow medical marijuana to ensure the plants arrive at legitimate distribution centers and aren't channeled into the black market.
"Everything is highly regulated and monitored," said Steven Siegel, BioTrackTHC's owner and president. "Everybody plays by the rules because there are so many checks and balances."
To comply with regulations governing the growth and sale of medical marijuana, which vary from state to state, Siegel's firm has developed a sophisticated computerized system.
Through bar codes tagged to each plant, growers can maintain a record of its growth, weight, strain, even the route and time it takes during transport to a dispensary. Sellers use the system to track sales, trends, even how long a customer had to wait to receive his medicine.
All that information is relayed to state regulators, who can monitor each plant's progress.
"We've made it where the state can still collect all the information the way they need it," said T.J. Ferraro, BioTrackTHC's chief technology officer. "We are years ahead of anyone else out there."
BioTrackTHC has nine employees and was incorporated about five years ago with a $3 million to $5 million investment.
Andy Williams, who with his brother Peter owns the Medicine Man grow center and dispensary in Denver, has been happily using BioTrackTHC's system for about two years. "It does everything for us," he said. "It tracks so many statistics for us through all the stages of the plant's life."
The system costs $1,000 to $2,000 to install, and about $400 a month to run.
Pot tracking systems have several benefits, said Mason Tvert, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project, a Denver-based organization dedicated to pot legalization.
"There's a need to ensure that there are controls in place," he said. "There's a need to ensure that this product is only being sold in the places where it is allowed."
Tvert said the security tracking systems provide should encourage more state lawmakers to allow medical marijuana. "Elected officials will find it comforting to know that marijuana is being tracked," he said.
Currently, 18 states allow medical marijuana. Siegel, too, expects that number to rise. "We believe that we are at the beginning of something big," he said. "The opportunity to grow is just phenomenal."
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: sun-sentinel.com
Author: sun-sentinel.com
Contact: rnolin@tribune.com
Website: Fort Lauderdale company peddles system to track medical marijuana - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
