Court rejects tag fees in Metrc case

In a highly anticipated judgment, Cole County Judge Dan Green rejected a motion from Missouri’s chosen seed-to-sale tracking software provider to be able to charge a fee for RFID tags.

“Accordingly, it is hereby ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that judgment issued in favor of Respondents on all claims in the Petition and that, under Contract No. CR191827001, Metrc is not entitled to request or receive compensation from non-state entities for the RFID tags,” so ordered Judge Green.

In other states, medical marijuana facilities pay a fee per RFID tag produced by Metrc, which was not included in the Missouri contract. The suit sought to change the contract to include RFID tags.

“While we are disappointed in this outcome, we are optimistic about an agreement with the state and industry to support Missouri’s safe medical cannabis market,” said Metrc COO Lewis Koski. “Metrc is America’s most trusted solution for cannabis governance, in large part, because of the transparency of our pricing and the affordability and reliability of our system. Our business model ensures that the cost to states and the taxpayers are as low as possible, and the cost to industry stays relative to the size of the business. We look forward to continuing to help the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services launch and secure the state’s medical cannabis market.”

The tracking contract was awarded to Metrc over the summer by the Office of Administration and was quickly protested by bidders BioTrackTHC and MJFreeways. The protests, which noted the RFID tag fees Metrc charges in other states, were rejected by OA.

The contract in question is between the State of Missouri and Metrc, not the Department of Health and Senior Services and Metrc. However, a representative of DHSS said that they expect the ruling to have “no impact” on the program.

“A contract between Metrc and the State of Missouri continues to exist and we expect this ruling, regarding what the contract allows relating to charging for tags, to have no impact on the medical marijuana program,” said Lisa Cox, director of communications for DHSS.

This story will continue to be updated.

Read the full judgment below.

[pdf id=3211]