The rise of the cannabis industry has brought many new job roles and responsibilities.
We have budtenders who guide, and otherwise distribute cannabis to patients and recreational users in much the same way that a bartender might guide and distribute an alcoholic beverage like beer to a drinker. And just as is the case for bartenders, budtenders have a responsibility to give safe and ethical advice to their clients.
It’s important for budtenders to have a solid understanding of the products on the market. Knowing which products might contain potent combinations of cannabinoids is incredibly important to making sure that the user doesn’t have a bad experience.
Bad experiences with psychoactive compounds are a quick way to lose a customer, surely, but perhaps more important is the ethical responsibility a budtender has towards preventing bad, traumatic experiences for their customers.
In our world of semi-regulation, there are a lot of products that contain harmful substances, pesticides or cutting agents and knowing what to look out for is a major priority for any budtender.
Being able to spot bad product, or knowing which products to test for what, and how to test for it, is something that too few budtenders are aware of. This is a major concern for the cannabis business because the budtender is the final authority between product and purchasing customer.
Budtenders are often given the responsibility in a company of deciding which products a cannabis business might want to carry and which ones aren’t interesting to clients of that specific target.
Like bartenders, budtenders in locations in which consumption is permitted also have an added responsibility of knowing when too much is too much for a customer, even if they don’t recognize it themselves.
Knowing how to spot a consumer of cannabis who is having a sharp drop in blood sugar, and getting them a glass of juice or a sugary snack before they collapse on the floor can mean a lot of avoided scrapes and bruises, broken teeth, and anxiety for the afflicted person.
One of the major priorities of Medcan University is to protect customers, budtenders, and their businesses by teaching them how to be responsible cannabis salesman and authorities. We feel it is important that we create standards within our industry that can be relied upon, and this is why a major part of our Fundamentals of Cannabis course is related to harm reduction, and provides the tools and knowledge needed for budtenders or anyone else in the cannabis industry to be responsible and qualified guides for any kind of consumer.
Have you ever had a bad experience purchasing a cannabis product? How often do the sales representatives have a rich knowledge of the products they are selling?