Legalizing marijuana has been a significant factor in the market’s growth, particularly in the United States. In medicine, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved some medicinal properties of marijuana in treating nausea for cancer patients and stimulating appetite for those with wasting syndrome because of AIDS. As cannabis is currently provided for medical and recreational activities, consumer demand is increasing.
According to reports, the cannabis market might reach more than $37 billion by 2024. Regardless of the fallout from COVID-19, the legal marijuana market is irrepressible and has provided entrepreneurs with a platform for selling cannabis and reaching new clients.
Additionally, cannabis sales are restricted to people 21 years of age or older. Licensed dispensaries must effectively determine their customers’ ages to identify whether they are prohibited from receiving the products or not. As a result, individuals must provide customer identity verification to prove their age. When minors acquire cannabis goods illegally, vendors and purchasers face sanctions or fines. Licensed cannabis retailers must follow state rules and ensure that the age verification document is correct to avoid these consequences.
Age verification methods such as “age checkers” are insufficient to deter fraud and ensure legal compliance. These approaches do not successfully verify the purchaser’s identification. Age gates, for example, are displayed as pop-up messages that require users to enter their birthdate to access the website. There is, however, no certainty that an individual will use their true information. One can make up their age and purchase things, thus violating age regulatory requirements.
As technology evolves, legal cannabis merchants must adapt to automated identity verification to protect their business and comply with operational rules and age confirmation. It is time to upgrade the age verification method from the traditional to a more efficient and robust one.
Biometric identification solutions can be an ideal option for age verification. Biometric security key sets leverage face recognition to instantly confirm a legitimate government-issued identification document without storing or recording any personally identifiable information. It alleviates ID forgery and human review errors. Further, it shortens the time required for age authentication.
Here is an infographic from authID for more information about the matter.
