METRC Licensing Rules 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which entity is responsible for issuing METRC licenses in a given state?
- The federal DEA
- The state cannabis regulatory authority (Correct answer)
- The METRC corporate office
- The local municipality exclusively
Correct answer: The state cannabis regulatory authority
Each state's cannabis regulatory authority (e.g., MED in Colorado, BCC in California) issues licenses and mandates METRC use.
Question 2: A licensee operating under a provisional license in METRC must:
- Use a separate METRC account from permanent licensees
- Comply with all tracking requirements just like a full licensee (Correct answer)
- Report only sales transactions, not inventory
- Obtain a waiver from seed-to-sale tracking
Correct answer: Comply with all tracking requirements just like a full licensee
Provisional license holders must comply with the same METRC tracking requirements as permanent licensees.
Question 3: When a cannabis business changes ownership, what must happen with the METRC license?
- The existing METRC account transfers automatically to the new owner
- A new license application must be submitted and a new METRC account established (Correct answer)
- The new owner continues using the prior owner's login credentials
- METRC suspends the account until a federal review is completed
Correct answer: A new license application must be submitted and a new METRC account established
A change of ownership requires a new license application and a new METRC account since licenses are non-transferable.
Question 4: Which of the following license types would NOT typically require METRC tracking?
- Retail dispensary
- Cannabis cultivator
- Cannabis testing laboratory
- A business that only sells cannabis-adjacent merchandise with no plant-touching activities (Correct answer)
Correct answer: A business that only sells cannabis-adjacent merchandise with no plant-touching activities
METRC tracking applies only to plant-touching cannabis businesses; ancillary businesses without cannabis inventory are not required to use METRC.
Question 5: A METRC license number is best described as:
- A unique identifier assigned by METRC to each employee
- A state-issued credential that maps to a specific licensed cannabis facility in METRC (Correct answer)
- A federal tax ID required for interstate cannabis commerce
- A batch number applied to each cannabis harvest
Correct answer: A state-issued credential that maps to a specific licensed cannabis facility in METRC
The METRC license number corresponds to the state-issued license and identifies the specific licensed facility within the system.
Question 6: If a licensee's METRC account is suspended due to non-compliance, which action is most appropriate?
- Continue operations and file a corrective action plan within 90 days
- Immediately cease cannabis operations until the issue is resolved with the regulator (Correct answer)
- Transfer all inventory to a nearby compliant licensee
- Contact METRC directly to restore access without notifying the state
Correct answer: Immediately cease cannabis operations until the issue is resolved with the regulator
A suspended METRC account indicates a compliance violation, and operations must stop until the state regulatory authority resolves the matter.
Question 7: Under most state METRC frameworks, a 'premises' on a license refers to:
- Any location where a licensee's employees work, including home offices
- The specific physical address approved for cannabis activities and tracked in METRC (Correct answer)
- All properties owned by the license holder
- A virtual address used for METRC reporting purposes
Correct answer: The specific physical address approved for cannabis activities and tracked in METRC
A licensed premises is the specific, state-approved physical location where cannabis activities may occur and which is associated with the METRC account.
METRC Licensing Rules 2
Which entity is responsible for issuing METRC licenses in a given state?