What the AGLC wants you to know about cannabis retail

Figuring out what is the best practice for your retail location can be confusing to a novice cannabis entrepreneur and time consuming to do yourself! As a retail cannabis license applicant, you would have had to undergo a background check yourself but something you might not know is that the director of your business, your shareholders, and key employees like managers or everyday sales associates must also all undergo and pass a background check. This means that anybody with any drug-related convictions, violent offenses, or charges related to organized crime cannot work, own or have shares in a retail cannabis location. 

So what else do you need to know?

There are only two major requirements for retail staff at a retail cannabis location: SellSafe Cannabis Training and a QCW application. Processing time for a QCW application can be anywhere from two to four weeks but can vary per the AGLC’s discretion.

The first step that all part-time and full-time retail employees must complete is their certification in the AGLC’s SellSafe Cannabis Training, this training is relatively similar to all the other training the AGLC offers for alcohol and gambling sales but focuses instead on the safe selling and consumption rules for legal cannabis. 

Next, all employees and the licensee(s) must apply to become a Qualified Cannabis Worker. As a first time applicant, you will need to provide identification, either a Canadian passport or birth certificate or as a non-Canadian resident, a copy of the Certificate of Canadian citizenship. As a second part of the identification process, all applicants must provide an original, unaltered criminal records check from your local police service. 

After all that you are qualified for up to five years! When you want to renew, you can send in your completed Qualified Cannabis Worker application as well as a criminal records check, luckily there is no need to submit your identification documents again. 

Conclusion

Simple, right? If you have any questions about applying for your cannabis retail location or any other cannabis applications, let us know and our team of experts will help you out!