Companies
18/06/2016

Microsoft Enters Medical Cannabis Market through a Partner Company




Through the launch of KIND Government Solutions, Microsoft Corporation seems to have found a new market for its products in the cannabis industry and the US based global tech giant is offering this new product in collaboration with KIND Financial as its partner.
 
The new product was designed with the intention to address seed to sale tracking in the cannabis industry and the new product has been named the Microsoft Health and Human Services Pod for Managed Service Providers. With it jumping in to the fray, it is perhaps that for the first time in the history of business at least in eth US that the cannabis space has managed to attract a company as large and recognizable as Microsoft.
Reports show that $135 million in state taxes and fees were generated in 2015 from about 938 dispensaries of cannabis which is more than the number of Starbucks in Colorado. This was a jump of about 44 percent when compared to the yields a year earlier.
 
However there are questions being raised by officials about whether the newfound income outweighs the escalating social costs even as the market enters its third year after voters legalized retail sales in 2012.
 
Data that is needed in order to maintain compliance with state rules and laws is collected and monitored by Kind’s Agrisoft seed to sale on behalf of the government.
 
“No one can predict the future of cannabis legalization, however, it is clear that legalized cannabis will always be subject to strict oversight and regulations similar to alcohol and tobacco; and, KIND is proud to offer governments and regulatory agencies the tools and technology to monitor cannabis compliance,” said KIND
“I am delighted that Microsoft supports KIND’s mission to build the backbone for cannabis compliance,” said Financial Founder & CEO David Dinenberg.
 
KIND’s ‘Special Advisor on Government Matters would be Matt D. Cook, Colorado’s former Senior Leader of Colorado’s Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division. Cook is also the author of Colorado’s groundbreaking medical marijuana laws and regulations.
 
“KIND’s strategic industry positioning, experienced team and top-notch-technology running in the Microsoft Azure Government cloud, made for an easy decision to align efforts,” said Kimberly Nelson, Executive Director State and Local Government Solutions from Microsoft.
 
“KIND agreed that Azure Government is the only cloud platform designed to meet government standards for the closely regulated cannabis compliance programs and we look forward to working together to help our government customers launch successful regulatory programs,” Nelson adds.
 
There are 25 states in eth United States that have made medical marijuana legal. However compliance to regulations has been made particularly challenging since each of the states have a unique set of rules and regulations. To add to the existing number of states to legalize medical marijuana, more states will be voting on legalizing marijuana in November’s elections.
 
There are also apprehensions that the drug classification of marijuana could be rescheduled by the Drug Enforcement Administration or at least it may seriously consider doing so and this measure would completely open up the medical marijuana market. this many analysts say is the reason that Microsoft has jumped into the market.
 
(Source:www.forbes.com/realtime)

Christopher J. Mitchell
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