Frequently Asked Questions

We scan your dispensary website against 23+ OCM advertising and marketing regulations from 9 NYCRR Parts 128 and 129. This includes age gate requirements, mandatory warning statements, prohibited health claims, restricted terminology, HOPEline information, license number display, and more. See the full rule list on our homepage.

Most scans complete in 30–90 seconds. Larger sites with many pages may take up to 2–3 minutes. You can watch the progress in real time on your scan status page.

The free scan gives you a violation count, risk rating, compliance score, and total fine exposure range — enough to know if you have a problem. The $997 full report unlocks detailed evidence citations, exact page URLs, quoted text, regulatory references, remediation steps with cost estimates, and a downloadable PDF.

Deterministic checks (missing elements, required text) have very high accuracy. AI-powered checks use confidence scoring and are labeled as “Potential Concerns” when the signal is ambiguous. Our exclusion engine filters out false positives from warning text, legal disclaimers, brand names, and cultivar names. No automated tool is 100% accurate — we recommend professional legal review for enforcement matters.

Yes. Our crawler uses a headless browser that renders JavaScript, so it works with any website platform including Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, WordPress, and Dutchie-powered sites. If your content loads in a standard browser, our scanner can read it.

Our crawler can detect and interact with common age gate implementations. If your age gate uses a simple button or date entry, the scanner will get past it and analyze the content behind it. Highly custom or CAPTCHA-based gates may limit what we can crawl — in that case, we’ll note which pages were inaccessible.

New York dispensary websites are governed primarily by 9 NYCRR Part 129 (Marketing and Advertising) and Part 128 (Packaging and Labeling). Penalties are set by Cannabis Law §16. The most recent amendments took effect December 3, 2025 as part of the PLMA update. Our PLMA explainer covers all the changes.

Major changes include: updated warning statement text, a fourth rotating health warning added, loyalty programs now explicitly allowed with conditions, audience threshold changed to Census-proportional, outdoor sign limits removed, social media requirements codified, and advertising recordkeeping now required. Read the full breakdown.

Yes. §129.3 now explicitly allows discount and loyalty programs, with conditions: you can’t sell cannabis below market value, programs can’t be structured as contests or sweepstakes, and advertised discounts must include terms and conditions per §129.2(q).

Cannabis Law §16 is the penalty statute for the New York cannabis program. It authorizes fines of up to $5,000 per violation for a first offense, with higher penalties for repeat violations. Each page of your website with a violation can count as a separate offense. Our Fine Exposure Calculator shows estimated ranges for common violations.

A Statement of Findings is the formal document OCM issues after a compliance inspection documenting every violation observed. It’s not a fine itself — it’s the starting point of the enforcement process. What happens next depends on your response, typically a Corrective Action Plan. Read more in our inspection process guide.

Standard violations typically allow 15 days for a Corrective Action Plan. Critical violations involving public safety or minor access may require correction within 24 hours. Fixing issues before an inspection means you correct them on your own timeline instead of under deadline.

The full report includes: every violation with quoted evidence text and page URL, the exact regulatory citation (§ reference), confidence level, estimated fine exposure per violation, step-by-step remediation instructions with cost estimates, an AI-generated executive summary, and a downloadable PDF. You also get 3 total scans (initial plus 2 rescans).

Fine estimates use the three-tier model from Cannabis Law §16: first offense, second offense, and subsequent violations. Each tier has a range (e.g., $1,000–$5,000 for a first-offense critical violation). Ranges are pulled directly from our rules database, which is based on the statute and OCM enforcement patterns.

“Fix Now” is the estimated cost to remediate the violation (developer time, content changes). “First Penalty” is the fine range if OCM catches it on a first offense. “If Ignored” is the repeat-offense fine range if you’ve already been cited and haven’t fixed it. The report shows all three so you can weigh the cost of fixing vs. the risk of not fixing.

Yes. Per our Terms of Service, you may share your report with your attorney, web developer, or compliance consultant for the purpose of remediating identified issues. You may not publicly post or resell reports.

After purchasing the full report, a “Download PDF” button appears on your report page. The PDF is also attached to the report delivery email. If you have trouble accessing it, email support@cannacomply.io with your report ID.

The Monitoring plan ($149/mo or $1,497/yr) includes: weekly automated rescans, instant compliance alerts when your score drops, monthly PDF reports, 3 on-demand rescans per month, verified badge eligibility, and rule change alerts when OCM updates regulations.

Automated rescans run weekly (every Monday at 6 AM ET). You also get 3 on-demand rescans per month that you can trigger anytime from your dashboard — useful after making changes to verify fixes.

Our rules database is updated within 48 hours of any OCM regulatory change. Monitoring subscribers receive a rule change alert email explaining what changed and how it might affect their compliance status. The next automated rescan will check against the updated rules.

Yes. Cancel from your dashboard or email support@cannacomply.io. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period — you keep access until then. No partial refunds for unused time beyond the 48-hour refund window.

No. You can subscribe to monitoring independently. However, the first monitoring scan generates a full baseline report, so subscribing gives you the equivalent of a full report as part of the setup.

No. CannaComply is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the New York State Office of Cannabis Management. We are an independent compliance screening tool. See our full Terms of Service.

No. CannaComply provides automated compliance screening for informational purposes only. Reports identify potential compliance gaps but are not a substitute for professional legal or regulatory advice. We recommend consulting a qualified cannabis regulatory attorney for enforcement matters.

Scan results and reports are stored in our database. Payments are processed by Stripe — we never store credit card numbers. Unpaid scan data is deleted after 30 days; paid reports are retained indefinitely. Full details in our Privacy Policy.

Only you. Reports are accessible via a unique, unguessable URL and are not indexed by search engines. We do not share your data with third parties, regulators, or competitors. See our Privacy Policy for details.