Cannabis Industry Update: September 14, 2023
Dear ABLE BC Members and Industry Colleagues,
Here’s what you’ll find in today’s update:
Notes from Nick
Minors as Agents Webinar
Advocacy Update
Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch Engagement: Proposed Regulatory Amendment for Prescribed ID
Member Spotlight: CannaReps
Out and About with ABLE BC
go2HR update
Find all past updates here.
Notes from Nick
Recent coverage of BC cannabis retail sales suggests that sales are up and prices are down. While one might assume that rising sales and lower prices is good news, some retailers are concerned. I spoke with Ehren Richardson at Sunrise Cannabis, who has analyzed these numbers to gain insights into the reality behind the trends.
According to Richardson:
“Dried Flower is the number one cannabis product category, yet all size formats of dried flower are declining in sales except for those under $5.00 per gram. Most consumers do not purchase under $5.00 per gram flower because it typically is mass produced, low quality, undesirable taste/effect product. Declining sales of flower priced above $5.00 per gram suggests the legal market is losing ground to the illicit market in the top selling cannabis product category. This is clearly a bad sign.
The Direct Delivery program accounted for only $3.6m across the whole province last quarter. For Direct Delivery to help our industry compete with the black market, the province should eliminate the 15 per cent wholesale mark-up altogether and replace it with a simple administrative fee per SKU registration. The province would make more from sales tax on greater market share than trying to force unjustifiable mark-ups.”
ABLE continues to work with our provincial government partners to combat the illicit market and to update the Direct Delivery program so BC’s cannabis retailers and producers can succeed.
ABLE BC Member Webinar September 28: LCRB Minors as Agents Program – What You Need to Know
Preventing the sale of cannabis to minors is a key priority for the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch (LCRB). The Minors as Agents Program (MAP) is one of the LCRB’s tools for monitoring licensees’ compliance with the prohibition against selling of cannabis to minors.
While we share government’s goal of keeping controlled substances out of the hands of minors, industry’s MAP compliance rate for the first quarter of 2023 was only 81 per cent. This webinar will provide a better understanding of due diligence practices to help you ace a MAP visit.
Please join senior officials from the LCRB— Ian Brown, Deputy General Manager and Executive Director, Compliance and Enforcement, and Maria Caduhada, Manager, Dispute Resolution and Branch Registrar—for a discussion of the MAP initiative. Ian will explain the program and clarify what minor agents do during an inspection. Maria will offer an overview of enforcement hearings and provide insight into the essentials of an effective due diligence defence.
We will also be joined by an expert licensing consultant who will review due diligence resources for your business.
This webinar is free for ABLE BC members! Simply login to the member portal to register now. Non-members may attend for $10.
Not a member yet? Sign up today to gain free access to this webinar and all other ABLE BC resources.
Webinar Details:
Date: Thursday, September 28, 2023
Time: 11:00 am-12:00 pm
Location: zoom
Tickets: FREE for ABLE BC members. $10 for non-members
Advocacy Update
At the upcoming Union of British Columbian Municipalities (UBCM) conference, delegates will be voting on two cannabis-related resolutions. The first, NR31, relates to sharing cannabis tax revenue between the province and municipalities. The second, NR30, seeks to “amend the Cannabis Control and Licensing Act to allow local governments the ability to “opt-out” of providing comment to the BC Liquor and Cannabis Branch with respect to applications for cannabis licenses.”
While ABLE certainly agrees with streamlining municipal processes and reducing local government workload, we are concerned that permitting municipalities to opt-out will require the LCRB to obtain input from local residents directly. This may lead to more uncertainty in the licensing process at a local level, and less opportunity for applicants to connect with residents during the process. Nick Landells recently spoke to the UBCM’s Cannabis Policy Technical Working Group to discuss ABLE’s concerns about resolution NR30. He will monitor the vote and provide an update as soon as the results are known.
Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch Engagement: Proposed Regulatory Amendment for Prescribed ID
Currently, anyone who purchases cannabis must show two pieces of identification (ID) to establish their age and identity. The LCRB is considering amending the regulations to reduce this requirement to only one piece of prescribed ID. This is consistent with the requirement in all other provinces and territories as well as tobacco purchases in BC.
Click here for more information.
ABLE has already submitted comments in support of this change as our members told us it will simplify their operational requirements.
If you wish to submit your own comments then you can do so via e-mail to LCRB.Outreach@gov.bc.ca. Comments will be accepted until September 15, 2023.
Member Spotlight
We are very pleased to announce another member benefit provider, CannaReps, an industry-leading training provider for cannabis retail staff.
CannaReps is committed to empowering professionals with expert skills and tools to guide and sell to consumers responsibly. The Cannabis Sommelier Certification program fosters connections between staff and consumers to improve knowledge and trust. ABLE BC members are eligible for funding for skills training program - train your team without the cost!
Out and About with ABLE BC
It’s not too often that all ABLE BC team members are in the same city, so this week has been a treat! We of course spent lots of time working in our office, but we also managed to get out for some fun lunch and coffee meetings. The real highlight of this week though, was working with Theresa Ito of Blue Mountain Solutions. We invited Theresa to come and work with us to help us grow the ABLE BC membership. Theresa led a positive and motivating session for us, getting us excited for more work to come!
go2HR on Tap : Employee Off-Boarding & Exit Interviews
We are pleased to announce that go2HR is now a regular contributor to the ABLE BC Cannabis Industry Update newsletter! You can expect to see regular articles from go2HR on current HR trends, new legislation, employee recruitment and retention tips, and more. Missed an article? Check out the member portal for each edition of go2HR on Tap.
As you look to wind down the summer and perhaps say goodbye to seasonal staff team, it is important to ‘close the loop’ on a great work experience. Just as it is good practice to bid farewell to departing guests as they leave your pub, bar, or liquor or cannabis store, in hopes that they will return in the future, the same applies for employees.
Did you know that a structured employee offboarding process will position your business and remaining team for a smoother transition? It can also help you build employee retention into the next season and increase word-of-mouth recognition as a great employer.
Whether you already have a formalized offboarding process in place or not, here are a couple of tools and best practices for your consideration:
Use an Off-boarding Checklist – Similar to an on-boarding checklist, it serves a dual purpose of giving the exiting employee an understanding of what their last days on the job will look like and providing your leaders with a clear, consistent plan to follow for all employees. Company costs will be controlled, and equipment will be safeguarded with the return of keys, laptops, uniforms, and other company-owned resources. Employees will receive their final pay, T4, and any future communications by verifying their contact information. Visit the link above to learn more and access a go2HR Off-boarding template that you can modify for your business.
Conduct Exit Interviews – Whether conducted in person before the employee leaves or sent as an online link afterwards, Exit Interviews provide an opportunity for employees to give valuable feedback on their employment experience. Knowing how employees feel about their experiences helps you understand what went well and what opportunities there are for improvement in the next season. Visit the link above to access an Exit Interview template you can download use for your business.
Visit the links above to download each of the go2HR template documents for more information and tips. Feel free to modify and use these documents for your business. For more HR-related templates, visit the go2HR HR Industry Toolkit.
Questions? Reach out to go2HR's HR Consultants for free advice at hr@go2HR.ca . go2HR is the Human Resources and Health and Safety Association for BC’s tourism and hospitality industry.