Some medical marijuana retailers in Pennsylvania were forced to suspend sales last week because of system slowdowns and errors in the MJ Freeway seed-to-sale tracking software that the state uses to keep tabs on the MMJ market.
According to an MJ Freeway statement emailed to Marijuana Business Daily, the system did not go down Thursday, but a new code in the software caused it to run slower than usual or not show up-to-date information.
Slowdowns and errors were first reported at 8 a.m. ET on Thursday, and the system was fully operational and running at normal speed by 2:15 p.m. that day, according to the statement.
Those issues weren’t the system’s first hiccups in Pennsylvania, The (Philadelphia) Inquirer noted.
On the first day of MMJ sales in the state in February, cannabis shipments were delayed because the system wasn’t recording product as it left cultivation facilities.
The system enhancement MJ Freeway released Thursday includes a new process of communicating updates to clients that gives them advance notice of changes and tips for how to navigate them, according to a statement from company spokeswoman Jeannette Horton.
“We communicated to our clients in Pennsylvania our apologies … and we’re certainly apologetic for the inconveniences it caused businesses and patients,” Horton told MJBizDaily.
The widely used seed-to-sale tracking software has previously experienced hacks, system outages and glitches.
In an interview with MJBizDaily last month, MJ Freeway co-founder Jessica Billingsley said hacks aren’t “100% preventable” and attributed the system’s other troubles to operational issues and “growth in (transaction) volume.”
