For developers of compliance technology, the relative newness of the cannabis industry may spur a great deal of interest in products that can help new—and even some longstanding—entrants to the market navigate the maze of various state regulations at play.

But there are still some very serious questions around whether or not those same cannabis providers are willing to fork over the cash for such tools just yet.

Amanda Ostrowitz, founder of the compliance platform CannaRegs, said that whereas the privacy arena has witnessed enough enforcement to keep companies on their toes, many of the entities operating in the cannabis industry still consider compliance to be an expense rather than something that is central to the ongoing health of their business.

"Right now it's very hard to get these businesses to shell out the money that's necessary. What they are willing to pay today isn't nothing, but it's probably not enough for any great pieces of [compliance] technology to be able to be built," Ostrowitz said.

However, that doesn't mean the need for regulatory compliance tools in the cannabis space is nonexistent, or that there aren't tech providers who are willing to jump into the game.

Simplifya, for example, is a regulatory compliance tool built specifically for the cannabis industry, walking users through a series of yes and no questions to help pinpoint potential conflicts with state laws. John Vardaman, the company's general counsel, said a variety of compliance tools have already cropped up within the space.

"Precisely because the [cannabis] industry presents so much risk but also opportunity, you have seen this growth of new technologies pouring into the space … You don't always get the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of an industry of this potential size and scale," Vardaman said.

However, more than just the opportunity the cannabis industry affords right now, the demand for compliance tech also benefits from the need for a comprehensive understanding of regulations that exist squarely at the state or local level absent a federal standard.

Vardaman indicated those laws can often vary wildly from state to state, and while he expects some uniformity to eventually emerge as the result of time, a perfect harmony is unlikely.

Ostrowitz referred to cannabis as a hyper-local law problem, with different cities and counties also having their own set of rules. CannaRegs aggregates regulatory data with regards to issues like zoning or taxation from each of those jurisdictions to help users stay abreast of the law.

"[Cannabis is] one of those things that is so fast changing that it certainly creates a need for legal tools around it," Ostrowitz said.

Also fueling the need for a potential tech assist is the challenge that compliance may pose to incumbents who may have been active in the cannabis space long before states gave such practices the green light.

Vardaman pointed out that for those individuals, the very concept of compliance might be alien, and deviating from longstanding methods of doing business that run counter to new regulations could be a laborious process.

But needing something and being willing to pay for it are two very different things. According to Ostrowitz, there are only a few billion-dollar entities in the cannabis space, with most of that worth being tied up in stock as opposed to liquid cash.

However, compliance tool developers may still find an audience on the other side of the regulatory fence. Ostrowitz thinks regulatory agencies could potentially adopt compliance tools, which given enough time and data could lend greater focus to future investigations.

"There's a lot of room for AI to look at where the biggest risk factors are if they are taking advantage of technology," Ostrowitz said.