Case Study: Mana Supply Holdings is Keeping Cannabis Compliant

How managed compliance services and PowerDMS work together to help them avoid regulatory fines and keep employees informed

July 26, 2021

Mana Supply Holdings is a multi-state, medical cannabis operation with both medical cannabis retail stores and manufacturing facilities. With nearly 100 employees and growing rapidly, Mana Supply views compliance as critical for their company to remain operational
and profitable.

From day one, Christopher Jensen (CJ), CEO of Mana Supply Holdings, was thinking about compliance. Prior to opening his first location CJ met with other cannabis operators to learn about their approach to compliance. Through these conversations, CJ learned that many organizations hire a chief compliance officer and manage much of the processes using paper and binders. Because both operators and state regulators were learning about the regulations concurrently, many of the processes are very manual and paper-based.

Having the foresight to see the pitfalls of manual processes, CJ sought out industry expertise and automation prior to launch. That’s when he met Tim Gunther, Co-Founder of ILoveCompliance.biz (ILC). ILC provides managed compliance services and technology solutions to help cannabis and hemp business owners conform to quickly changing industry regulations and avoid costly regulatory fines.

Powerful cloud-based tool

From the onset, ILC loaded all of Mana Supply’s policies, procedures, and training onto PowerDMS, a policy and compliance management platform. Initially, CJ thought PowerDMS was no different than Google Drive or a Sharepoint site, but he quickly realized that it was a powerful cloud-based tool that would automate many of their compliance processes.

With PowerDMS, employees could view and attest to policies and procedures anytime, anywhere from their mobile devices. If they had questions about a process or regulation, employees could use the robust search features to research and find job critical information from their phones or computers. Training is delivered virtually on PowerDMS and can be referenced at any time.

 

With PowerDMS, employees could view and attest to policies and procedures anytime, anywhere from their mobile devices.

 

Empowering managers and holding employees accountable

Managers are empowered to hold employees accountable with dashboards and reports. They can see who has or hasn’t signed off on policies or completed training. This allows compliance to be owned and managed by several different layers of the organization rather than a singular person who couldn’t possibly do everything themselves.

To promote transparency and trust with regulators, all documentation and reporting is loaded into PowerDMS. Even if paper copies are required, they upload a digital version so nothing can ever go missing or get lost. Regulators have limited access to search for and view documentation at their discretion.

“PowerDMS makes us very transparent. We want not only the regulators, but any potential investors to be able to look at our documentation. The cannabis market can be seen as shady and mysterious and we don’t want that.”

- Christopher Jensen, CEO Mana Supply Holdings

 

Because cannabis operations are still a retail organization, there will always be problems with shrinkage and missing products. Mana Supply takes a proactive approach to this issue by self-reporting to ensure regulators know they have nothing to hide and they will address problems as they arise. By having a third-party compliance group, Mana Supply can be confident employees aren’t being pressured to sweep issues under the rug. Regulators are much more at ease knowing that a third-party is watching over the organization and they can call ILC at any time with questions or to request information.

Additionally, because ILC works with many different organizations in several states, they can provide unique insight into what they are seeing with other clients or across the country. They bring back lessons from Mana Supply’s peers and apply appropriate solutions that further their compliance program.

 

“Once you get large enough, you should probably hire an internal compliance officer, but you should never really get rid of the third party compliance group.”

- Christopher Jensen, CEO Mana Supply Holdings

 

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