As far as industries go, marijuana seems like the last one into which a tech company such as Microsoft would venture. However, that's exactly what the corporation did on Thursday, partnering with KIND Financial to provide regulation software to state and local governments.
The partnership, called KIND Government Services, is designed to serve as a helpful resource for states where marijuana is legalized. KIND's official statment says:
Microsoft selected KIND to participate in its newly created Microsoft Health and Human Services Pod for Managed Service Providers. The goal of this relationship is to leverage each company's resources to provide State, County, and Municipalities with purpose built solutions for track and trace ('seed to sale' in the cannabis industry) technology.
The move is not designed to pressure states to legalize weed, but assist those who have done so in maintaining control over the business. According to a report by Forbes, "KIND has built a software system called Agrisoft to collect and monitor data that is needed in order to maintain compliance with state rules and laws. Under their partnership, Microsoft will market Agrisoft to state agencies for use throught its Azure cloud service."
While marijuana has long been considered a dangerous drug, more and more states are beginning to legalize it, and thus desperately need help controlling this new trade. And thankfully, KIND and Microsoft have shown an interest in aiding these regulatory efforts.