Calibrating Quality Plants at Cresco Labs' cultivation facility in Kankakee, Illinois, are trained to grow vertically and reach for the overhead lights. Courtesy Photo Creating E very state with a legal marijuana program has a unique regulatory framework. Navigating those different rules while still maintaining quality standards can be a compliance high-wire act for multistate cannabis operators. To ensure products don't run afoul of state regulators while simultaneously adhering to internal quality goals, executives at several MSOs advise other marijuana companies to: 38 April 2022 | MJBizMagazine By Bart Schaneman Uniformity Multistate cannabis producers share secrets for streamlining operations across differing state regulations * Dedicate an entire team to quality control and compliance. * Maintain an in-house testing lab and test often. * Develop a library of detailed standard operating procedures that serve as a playbook for working in different markets. " We have a compliance team that's dedicated to all things around the legal side of the language that's embedded in each state, " said Todd West, executive vice president of operations at Cresco Labs, a vertically integrated multistate cannabis company based in Chicago. FINGER ON THE PULSE Knowing the ins and outs of each state's regulations and following them as they change is a full-time job. At New York-based marijuana MSO Acreage Holdings, Senior Vice President Ellen Deutsch employs local regulatory experts in each state to maintain quality control and quality assurance. " We monitor everything