County Level Marijuana Regulation In California Using APIs

Counties across the State of California are scrambling to get everything in order now that marijuana is legal, and the 3rd party vendors working with the state are using an API to try and bridge the regulatory needs of each county, as they look to regulate the brand new industry. It sounds like the marijuana regulatory API isn’t 100% ready for prime time, but it is interesting to hear that state is looking to “mitigate the burden of counties” when it comes to production of marijuana using APIs.

I have been curating news about APIs in use across the growing marijuana industry, but this is the fist story I’ve written on the subject. Now that I’m seeing APIs use as part of the regulatory engine for the industry, things are getting a little more real, and not just be about finding seeds, stores, and other industry data. I’ll keep scratching around to see what I can find out about the software vendors mentioned in the article, and see if I can get my hands on any documentation, or a link to any active portal. I’m curious to see where this marijuana regulatory API train is headed.

Since the marijuana industry is a completely new one for cities, counties, and states to manage, there is an opportunity to leverage new technology like APIs as part of the interactions between government entities, with the help of 3rd party providers. Maybe there is even some opportunity for revenue generation on top of these APIs, allowing for government to fund the software development in a way that it could also be used across other government systems. Push things forward with the rollout and expansion of the marijuana industry, and use that to fund other government systems that lack the funds, and are often years behind. The problems states face in working with counties doesn’t stop with this new marijuana industry, and there are so many other aspects of government operations that could benefit from APIs helping “mitigate the burden of counties” trying to comply with state laws and regulations.