Tracking software issues temporarily stall Maryland medical cannabis sales

Medical marijuana sales in Maryland slowed to a crawl last weekend because of a glitch in the state’s MMJ tracking system.

The state’s tracking program provider, Florida-based seed-to-sale firm Franwell, blamed the slowdown on a new feature the company installed in its Metrc software, The Baltimore Sun reported.

According to the newspaper, Franwell had introduced an enhancement in the program that enables patients to track how much cannabis product they purchased in a 30-day period as well as how much they are allowed to buy before hitting their limit.

Franwell told the Sun that patients using the new feature overwhelmed Maryland system at peak times, causing it to slow down on Friday and Saturday. After Franwell shut down the feature, the system resumed operating normally.

Maryland regulators have certified more than 27,000 medical cannabis patients, according to the Sun, with 11,000 more that have registered and are waiting for certification.

Glitches in cannabis tracking systems caused problems for business owners across the nation in 2017.

The Metrc system also is in place in California, Nevada, Colorado, Alaska, Ohio and Michigan.