As the legal cannabis industry continues its meteoric rise – $9 billion in sales last year and expected to chart a combined annual growth rate (CAGR) at 25% or greater over the next 6 years – we hear and read a lot about how businesses selling cannabis products are treated like pariahs by payment processing companies. Often absent from these discussions, however, is the ripple effect this has on other legitimate business. All too often, businesses that provide products and services that are ancillary to the cultivation and sale of cannabis products (like marijuana and CBD) are presumed guilty by association and thus turned away by payment processing companies.
Testing laboratories are one example. Testing labs play a vital role in assuring the quality and consistency of cannabis products like marijuana and CBD oils. State laws authorizing sales of cannabis products require the products be labeled for THC and CBD content. And consumers have come to rely on the analyses performed by the labs when deciding which products to purchase.
No business should be denied access to payment acceptance networks just because their products and services target the needs of state-sanctioned cannabis businesses. Yet most payment processing companies are shutting out THC and CBD testing labs simply because they “touch” a substance (cannabis) which while sanctioned by state laws remains illegal under federal law.
THC and CBD testing labs play a crucial role in the cannabis industry. And these businesses deserve access to modern methods of payment, like credit and debit cards, because, after all, cash-only is not a viable business model.
Paybotic gets this. We have a depth of understanding of the cannabis industry unlike that of any other payment processing company. Paybotic has been supporting the cannabis industry with modern, domestically-based payment acceptance solutions for more than 7 years. Our established policies, procedures and partnerships allow us to tailor payment acceptance solutions to clients throughout the cannabis product value chain, including testing labs.
Let Paybotic demonstrate how our experience working with legal cannabis businesses can be put to work for your business.
