The RSPA Cannabis Community helps members meet and network with others interested in the cannabis vertical and fosters business development opportunities for RSPA members, all in a vendor-neutral atmosphere. The community has grown to over 200 members ranging from Fortune 500 organizations to SMB VARs and software developers. 

To join or sponsor the RSPA Cannabis Community, email Membership@GoRSPA.org. 

By: RSPA Cannabis Community

Thanks to recent actions by the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), cannabis rescheduling is on the horizon in the United States. Immediate changes to payment systems are unlikely, but significant impacts are expected eventually. At a recent meeting of the RSPA Cannabis Community, members discussed what VARs and ISVs can do to prepare for cannabis rescheduling and seize emerging opportunities.

• We all realize that rescheduling is coming at some point. There’s a lot of opportunity to partner together and grow from a payments perspective.
• Rescheduling is especially going to benefit dispensary owners, growers, and cultivators when it comes to being able to write off expenses.
• The rescheduling of cannabis will absolutely have a more positive impact for hardware resellers. Dispensaries haven’t been able to write off equipment like a traditional business can. That will be a huge value-add, and that is definitely a win.
• For our resellers, they’re already starting to have conversations in terms of ripping and replacing hardware where dispensaries, processors, and growers weren’t making those investments before.
• In terms of banking, I understand that once this happens, you have some big banks like Chase that are willing to take it and push it forward.
• A lot more folks in the investor community are looking at cannabis now because of rescheduling. Lenders that wouldn’t have touched cannabis before that are now looking at it.
• Cannabis dispensaries are restructuring themselves to employee-owned companies instead of being an LLC. This could help the company avoid 280E restrictions. (Section 280E prohibits deductions on business expenses related to a Schedule I or II controlled substance.)
• I think cannabis is going to really leapfrog over the conventional desire to work with a local bank and have a digital-first demand for compliance, risk management, cash logistics services, and other important features that are specific to cannabis businesses.
• It seems we’re moving the needle with the status of rescheduling. There’s a lot more excitement and momentum about where we can go than there was maybe six months ago.
• Don’t wait. It’ll be too late. Start seeing what you can do now. Once that train leaves the station, you’re not going to catch up to it.
• Everybody should be partnering with one another in any way we can to drive innovation and to drive success.