Knowing Your Responsibilities as a Cannabis Business Owner

If you’ve worked in the cannabis industry then it comes as no surprise that there are a lot of issues that still need rectifying in order for Cannabusiness owners to create safe practices that protect employees and consumers and for legislation to play a more active role in regulation that supports the industry.

In Episode 3 of Ask The Regulator podcast, BuildMySOP’s Kady Cravens and Tom Mohan sat down with the cannabis industry’s truthteller Kristen Yoder to discuss the issues that are costing cannabis business owners tons of money and creating unsafe environments for employees.

Collectively, Kady, Tom, and Kristen account for decades of experience and expertise in the cannabis industry and discussed their main concerns with owner’s management practices and the costly mistakes they continue to see time and time again.

In this post, we are highlighting some of the takeaways from the Episode 3 AskTheRegulator podcast and discuss the importance of cannabis business owners knowing and adhering to city and state regulations, and how this impacts their ability to properly protect their business, employees, and consumers.

WHAT ARE THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF CANNABIS BUSINESS OWNERS?

Who is Kristen Yoder?
It Is Important That Cannabis Business Owners Know Their Responsibilities
Know The Rules Of Your City & State
Protecting The Business, Employees, & Consumers
Create a Compliant Culture

This is the first installment in a series of posts exploring cannabis business owners’ responsibilities to their business, to their employees, and to their consumers.

Who is Kristen Yoder?

Before we begin discussing what the owner’s responsibilities are, we want you to know who Kristen Yoder is and why having her on with us to discuss these topics was so valuable for our listeners and viewers.

Owner of Cynical Stoner and host of the podcast The CannaBS Detector, Yoder is known to be a truthteller and advocate for cannabis industry change and regulation.

She started working in the cannabis industry in 2005 and has worked in cultivation, manufacturing, and dispensary facilities for over a decade.

In 2018, Yoder started her podcast with the intention to shed light on the ugly truths of the industry, particularly the false marketing and harmful management that she had witnessed firsthand for years.

Now, she continues to openly advocate for change in the industry and help to educate anyone considering working in the cannabis industry writing, “The best decisions are informed decisions, and in an industry as new and hyped up in the media as the Cannabis industry is, there are many opportunities for BS to occur, and it is occurring on a major scale."

The conversation that Yoder had with the Ask The Regulator podcast team is intended to encourage Cannabis facility owners to take their roles seriously and intentionally work towards protecting not only their assets but their employees and consumers.

It Is Important That Cannabis Business Owners Know Their Responsibilities

After years of working in unsafe facility environments and often toxic conditions, Weed Week published an article titled Good Lord, What Have Y’all Done To Kristen Yoder? where Yoder said she saw how unhappy she was and wanted to help solve the problem by actively changing the industry.

“The legal [cannabis] business is not fun or glamorous, and you’re not going to get rich fast. People get taken advantage of.”

And like in all businesses, the company culture, procedures, and accountability are all reflective of the ownership.

Owners are responsible to know the legal expectations of the business, how to train and maintain employee efficiency, creating a safe and motivating environment to prevent employee turnover, and holding themselves and their employees accountable for their actions.

Know The Rules of Your City & State

As legalization continues to expand, government regulation is continuously adjusting to the growth and changes in the cannabis industry. This causes legislation to constantly change, imposing new procedures and requirements on cannabis business owners all the time.

But it is the owner’s responsibility to know these changes, follow protocol, and implement whatever is being required in order to remain compliant and avoid violations.

No longer is it excusable for business owners to operate their facilities with what the AskTheRegulator hosts call a ‘basement mentality’, which refers to the time when legalized marijuana didn’t exist so operators had to be secretive in their business.

It is now a regulated business, and in order to make money in your business, you need to follow the rules so that you can grow and sell the weed.

As founder and CEO of BuildMySOP Kady Cravens shared, “And the more responsible practices that we create, the more power we give the plant. And that’s why I’m here at the end of the day.”

There has been a lot of maturity in the industry over the past few years as business owners are now privy to the demands and costs of legally owning and operating a cannabis business.

Owners now know firsthand that their commitment far exceeds simply selling weed, as many city and state regulations have made obtaining a license to sell and produce marijuana incredibly expensive and difficult.

Protecting the Business, Employees, & Consumers

Although the costs associated with opening a cannabis operation are high, most states have yet to impose regulations to the degree that would help protect the consumers, manufacturers, and sellers.

Some states have Responsible Vendor Training (RVP) programs in place, but unlike most state-mandated liquor serving licenses, many are not yet requiring vendors to acquire their RVP before they’re allowed to sell cannabis products.

Instead, many states only require such training programs after a costly violation has occurred. Perhaps if the RVPs were acquired before any employee could sell legal cannabis, businesses might avoid future fines.

While states and municipalities continue to sort out their approach to regulating the cannabis industry, the one thing that holds the most weight is the hefty fines.

Financial penalties are currently the most effective way of holding business owners accountable for violating city and state regulations.

In many ways, this is effective because it is pushing for more respect in the cannabis industry and making room for more professional and experienced business owners to create compliant work environments that strive to protect its employees and consumers.

What is a Compliant Culture?

In order for businesses to operate safely, they must establish a company culture that creates a safe environment for all employees and consumers.

The business’s culture is evident in the way employees interact with one another, the integrity they operate with, the company values they honor, and the decisions they make.

So in creating a compliant culture, employees need to know what’s expected of them, why it’s important to follow procedures, see that there is accountability in following procedures and that there is all-around respect.

Establishing a compliant culture must be approached strategically and intentionally. Too often, cannabis business owners lack experience in managing and operating a business and do not know how to manage employees and create a culture that thrives.

Next Steps

Business owners have a lot of responsibility to properly protect their businesses and employees. Knowing the regulatory laws in their city and state is crucial in order to protect their assets and build a safe work environment.

Cannabis business owners also need to know how to build a compliant culture in order to make and save money and protect employees and consumers.

Our next article will continue to share more from the discussion between Kristen Yoder and the AskTheRegulator podcast team, and their take on how to build a compliant work culture.

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