Colorado has extended its contract with Metrc to continue operating the state’s marijuana track-and-trace system through 2029, with the new agreement set to bring expanded data-analysis tools and consumer-facing QR codes to the state’s legal marijuana market.
Metrc announced the extension Thursday with the Colorado Department of Revenue and its Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED), continuing a partnership that has lasted for more than a decade.
“The Inventory Tracking System remains essential to Colorado’s oversight of the regulated marijuana industry,” an MED spokesperson said. “The system helps support compliance, product safety, diversion prevention, tax accountability, and consumer protection.”
Under the new contract, MED will gain access to Metrc Insights, a suite of reporting and data-analysis tools designed to provide both broad market-level information and more detailed detection of potential anomalies and risks.
Colorado marijuana businesses will also soon have access to Metrc Retail ID, which uses serialized QR codes to identify individual products.
Consumers will be able to scan the codes with a smartphone to view information including a product’s origin and testing details. Metrc says the system can also provide access to certificates of analysis, ingredients and other product information.
For businesses, the same QR codes can be used for inventory management and product transfers, potentially reducing the need for separate labels and barcodes.
Colorado requires licensed medical and recreational marijuana businesses to use Metrc to report state-mandated inventory information. The cloud-based system uses serialized tags and radio-frequency identification technology to track marijuana from cultivation through processing, testing, transportation and eventual sale.
“Colorado helped define the modern regulated cannabis market, and we are honored to continue supporting the state’s leadership in cannabis oversight and innovation,” Metrc CEO Michael Johnson said.
Metrc currently holds 30 regulatory contracts and says its systems are used by more than 500,000 growers, testing facilities, retailers, regulators and law enforcement officials.
The company did not announce an exact date for when Retail ID will become available to Colorado businesses.
