A while back, we covered CannVerify, an authentication system for cannabis products. It uses a product packaging seal with a QRCode, which you can scan and check on the website itself to verify that your product is authentic, factory-sealed, and really contains what it says it contains.
The way we’ve been inundated with fake vape cart brands and counterfeits of legit brands, we’re pretty desperate for everybody to lock onto this or any other system to drive the black market out of this industry. Every time somebody gets sick from a bunk cart, the media reports it as if all vapes are to blame.
Counterfeit Cannabis Products Steal California Market
The LA Times is the latest to bring this issue to the fore. One example they mention is Kingpen Farms struggling to distinguish itself from its imitators, which we previously covered. As LA Times mentions, Kingpen had to spend $2.5 million on a packaging re-brand, only to see the Chinese counterfeit market just copy that packaging too.
And there’s this quote: “A spokesman for the parent company of Stiiizy (we covered those too), another popular vape pen in California, said he had found hundreds of instances of knockoff versions of its products being sold online.”
Hundreds! It’s clear that calling these guys out one at a time is never going to put a dent in the issue. The cannabis industry needs a way to protect itself before panicky voters get told they’ll regret legalizing cannabis.
How Does Blockchain Help?
Some of you may be wondering “I’m glad there’s this technology to protect me from mysterious substances in my cartridges, but how do I trust technology I don’t understand?
With our apologies to those who have had to sit through this lecture before, here is the simplest video we could find on YouTube which explains this concept nicely, without even mentioning the math:
And yes, you really don’t want us to mention the math. It’s based on cryptography and prime numbers. You can look it up, but it gets hairy. We do find one simplified explanation for how prime numbers work within cryptography that isn’t too painful. This shows some of the principles at the heart of blockchains.
The bottom line is that blockchains give us an authentication that is impossible for anyone to break! Even if a counterfeiter copies the QRCode on one box, that will show up as a fake because there’s only one of each QRCode. It’s just like the FBI having a set of fingerprints for your vape cart.
A Gallery of CannVerify in Action
CannVerify’s Instagram shows products all the time with one of their codes on it. CannVerify comes to the consumer as an app for both iPhone and Android.
Do you feel safer using CannVerify-protected products?
Have you found another blockchain verification solution? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below or in our forum!
