Creating a Las Vegas experience that competes with the Bellagio Water Show’s geyser-like fountains or the flashy light and music show at the Wynn’s Lake of Dreams isn’t easy, especially as a cannabis dispensary working within strict state regulations. But Planet 13 has managed to create a very “Vegas” atmosphere while also being compliant. And compliance, of course, means significant security. David Farris, director of marketing and sales, explains how the company keeps a strong security presence without detracting from the customer experience.

Michelle Simakis: You have a Planet 13 globe and water feature in front of your dispensary, and just beyond the desk where customers check in, there is a digital, interactive koi pond in the floor where the “fish” swim in response to your feet. You clearly want to give customers a good first impression. How do you make sure that it’s fun, but also secure?

David Farris: The vision for Planet 13 has always been to be a large, beautiful marijuana superstore, but … also a destination. [The water feature] is a huge photo moment for visitors. (Eighty-five percent of the customer base is tourists.) But we always wanted a presence of safety and openness, where people can shop and have fun. We redefined what that looked like from a security standpoint.

MS: How did you redefine that?

DF: We allow our security guards to engage and be part of our operation. Whether you are checking in or parking, security officers have coverage in those areas, but they are also greeting you and saying, “Welcome to Planet 13.” We have a director of security who works with our third-party security team.

MS: The people at the reception desk are not security guards though, correct?

DF: That’s a host position, but when we first opened, we had a security guard ... right when you walked in, who said, “Hey, please have your ID out,” and all that stuff. And that wasn’t … what we really wanted. So we created a role for a line host because we do have a high volume of traffic. Their role is to get customers excited to come in.

MS: How much traffic do you get, and do you train staff to look out for anyone who may be intoxicated or causing trouble, being just off the Las Vegas Strip?

DF: We see over 110,000 visitors a month. One of our biggest protocols is not allowing people to sneak anything, whether it’s drinks or other hazardous things, within our facilities. One of our many trainings is to have the ability to scan who is approaching the building. A lot of our customers are coming off of ride share, so they’re just dropping off people constantly. We also have security out front. It’s important for us to be constantly aware of who’s entering the building.

MS: What challenges did regulations pose, and how did you work within those?

DF: Our general counsel and our operations are constantly reading through regulations but also being transparent with our regulators. As we’re creating this vision, we touch base with [regulators] on a frequent basis and are extremely knowledgeable in those regulations because it’s much more difficult to do some of those out-of-box concepts if you don’t know what those limitations are.

MS: Do distractions make people feel safer?

DF: We have all these unique things. ... I think those are a bit distracting, but it’s also [creating] an atmosphere. When you come into an atmosphere, you feel safe, you feel comfortable. You’re not paying attention to security because you’re just shopping like at a normal retail store.

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

It is more important than ever to create a culture of respect in your dispensary. The cannabis industry is entering the mainstream as legalization efforts gain momentum in new markets. This means you must address problems that are gaining increased scrutiny in other sectors, including sexual harassment. To do so, you will need to ensure you have policies and practices in place to stay in compliance, avoid lawsuits and create an environment in which people want to work. (Refer to the January/February 2018 issue of Cannabis Dispensary and read the article “No Means No” for guidance).

Now, states are acting to ensure that employees are not victims of harassment by requiring that employers provide specific sexual harassment training. This training is mandated by law if your dispensary does business in California, Connecticut, New York, Maine and Delaware. An additional seven states have pending legislation. Local governments, including New York City and Washington, D.C., also are adding their own requirements for sexual harassment training to their books.

That said, it would be incorrect to believe that dispensaries only in those jurisdictions need to provide sexual harassment and other forms of workplace harassment prevention training to employees. Many other states, such as Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah and Vermont, have laws that “encourage” employers to provide such training. Other federal and state laws, regulations and court decisions have made it clear that employers should provide anti-harassment training to all employees in all states. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued guidelines to employers in all states saying that they periodically “should provide [harassment prevention] training to all employees to ensure they understand their rights and responsibilities.”

While other states may not have such a thorough and exhaustive definition, California’s sexual harassment law provides a good guideline for dispensaries operating in all states.

General training in respectful behavioral and workplace sexual harassment will not meet the requirements of states that now have mandatory training because the laws detail specific content that must be addressed. It is critical for dispensaries in jurisdictions with strict sexual harassment training laws to review and understand the specific requirements, which vary widely in scope and impact. Here is an overview of some:

General training in respectful behavioral and workplace sexual harassment will not meet the requirements of states that now require mandatory training.

Delaware

• By January 2020, all employers with at least 50 workers (not counting independent contractors or employees with less than six months of continuous employment) must provide training.
• Training must be repeated every two years, or within one year for new hires/new supervisors.
• Content is specified by the state and must be interactive.
• Employers with more than four employees had to provide the Delaware Department of Labor information sheets to existing employees by July 1, 2019, and to all new hires when they begin employment.

New York City

• By April 1, 2020, all employees who work in companies with 15 or more employees and work more than 90 hours in a calendar year must be trained.

New York State

• Training for all employees and supervisors located in the state had to be completed by January 2019.

Connecticut

• A minimum of two hours of training for supervisors, including team leaders, for all employers who have more than 50 employees, is required.
• Training must occur within six months of hire/promotion.
• Content is specified by the state; online training is acceptable. Training records should be maintained.
• Additionally, employers with three or more employees must post notices regarding the illegality of sexual harassment and remedies available to victims.

Maine

• All employers with 15 or more employees must train staff within one year of new hire/promotion.
• Content is specified by the state and requires additional training content for supervisors.

California

• By Jan. 1, 2020, all employers with five or more employees must train all workers.
• Definition of employees includes volunteers, unpaid interns and independent contractors. Temporary and seasonal employees who work 100 hours in a year or more than 30 days must be trained after hire.
• Note that “employers” includes those who receive staffing services, such as contract workers from an employment agency.
• Training must be interactive, with practical examples, and can be taken either online or in a group.
• Two hours of training for supervisors and one hour of training for non- supervisors/employees is required every two years
• New-hire employees must be trained within six months of hire and supervisors within six months of their hiring date or promotion.
• Content is specified by the state and must be presented by persons with specific training, who are considered “qualified trainers” under California law.

California has the most requirements and thus the largest impact to current cannabis retailers and cultivators. The dispensary manager or human resources expert is advised to contact the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing for the most recent training descriptions, fact sheets, brochures and required posters.

Note also that California Senate Bill 1343 expands employer liability by making employers responsible for any acts of harassment by or against employees and non-employees (such as independent contractors and seasonal workers) and establishes that one can be held liable for even one comment if it has interfered with work or creates a hostile work environment.

Further, specific employer obligations are mandated in California:

• Take all reasonable steps to prevent discrimination and harassment from occurring. If harassment does occur, take effective action to stop any further harassment and to correct any effects of the harassment.
• Develop and implement an unlawful discrimination and harassment prevention policy with a procedure for employees to make complaints and for the employer to investigate complaints in a timely manner.
• Fully inform all personnel of their rights and any obligations to secure those rights.
• Establish procedures for the organization to fully and effectively investigate any harassment complaints. The investigation must be thorough, objective and complete. Anyone with information regarding the matter should be interviewed. The HR manager or company leaders must make a determination, and the results need to be communicated to the complainant, to the alleged harasser and, as appropriate, to all others who are directly concerned.
• Take prompt and effective corrective action if the harassment allegations are proven. The employer must take appropriate action to stop the harassment and ensure it will not continue. The employer must also communicate to the complainant that action has been taken to stop the harassment from recurring. Finally, appropriate steps must be taken to remedy the complainant's damages, if any.

Because California usually sets employment law (and other) trends, dispensary owners and managers who operate in other states without sexual harassment guidance would be well advised to provide state-specific training now instead of waiting for their jurisdictions to establish regulations..

I recently interviewed HR professional Dominique Fruchman, who has completed the specialized training required by California and provides sexual harassment and respectful workplace individual and small group training for employers in Southern California’s Coachella Valley. Fruchman emphasized the importance of getting your dispensary employees trained as soon as possible.

“The law is biased toward protecting the employee, not the small-business owner," Fruchman says. "Thus, that ‘ounce of prevention’ of an hour or two of preventive training will protect you in what has become a highly litigious #MeToo and #TimesUp environment, where employees are more savvy. I recommend face-to-face training if you have more than 15 employees (as defined by the new law) because it will be easier to complete the training in a timely and cost-effective manner, and it is more engaging and interactive for your staff. In-person or online training in California usually costs $25 per employee and $50 per supervisor, although discounts might be available depending on the individual trainer. Employment labor attorneys can charge $1,500 to $2,500 for a group of 30 supervisors.”

Fruchman points out that in California, the content is very specific and must cover topics such as harassment, bullying, gender identification, sexual harassment and retaliation. Participants will receive a certificate of training, and the employer must keep records of the number of participants and the dates the training was completed. She notes that “some dispensary employers may have gotten their start in the ‘gray market’ or have employees whose culture and experience is definitely not corporate; it is critical that these employees have the training because this may be a radically new concept for them, plus a new cultural environment, which is highly regulated. There are new rules to follow with consequences for both the employee and the employer if the rules aren’t followed.”

The Bottom Line

Dispensaries must approach workplace harassment prevention with extreme caution to reduce the risk of lawsuits, agency charges and penalties and other negative business impacts. Make prevention part of your company policies and have it documented in your employee handbook. Get your training in place whether the state currently requires it or not. Prevention policies and training constitute the first and foremost best practice in preventing legal risks associated with sexual harassment.

Additionally, there is a sound business case for providing harassment prevention training at your dispensary:

• It reduces the occurrence of workplace harassment and a hostile work environment, which will increase productivity, and as a result, profits.
• Potential and current employees know your dispensary is a “safe” environment, which will have a positive impact on employee morale and longevity.
• The dispensary can avoid punitive damages in a harassment lawsuit and limit exposure for potential lawsuits by demonstrating that they have provided training.

What Actions Should A Dispensary Take Now?

• Determine which state and local laws apply to your dispensary.
• Design an anti-harassment and anti-discrimination program that includes training for both supervisors and employees.
• Frame the training to be about positive actions and values, not about avoiding negative repercussions. Emphasize how the training is in line with your dispensary’s professionalism and culture. Ensure employees that they are a part of the solution, not potential harassers.
• Review your policies and ensure they meet the minimum requirements discussed in this article, and ensure they are written and available to all employees.
• Review or draft a policy for responding to complaints and ensure it fosters an environment where victims feel supported and safe—and where they know that investigations will be conducted in a thorough, transparent and timely manner. (Note: The dispensary can always hire an outside investigator or HR consultants if the competency doesn’t exist in-house to conduct a proper investigation.)
• Remember that inaction by a supervisor or a slow response by upper management can result in a lawsuit based on hostile work environment; expedient response is key.
• Provide training to all employees, including independent contractors, seasonal and part-time, especially if you operate in those states that require training.
• Be ready! Avoid the bad PR, social media, upset employees and legal costs by being prepared.

The key to success is to train for prevention, not just compliance. Dispensaries can take actions now, not just “because we have to,” but because it makes good business sense. It also is an excellent way to send the right message to employees, letting them know that you take this issue seriously, that you are demonstrating your support and that you want them to feel comfortable and safe when they come to work at your company.

Note: This column is not to be considered as legal or financial advice nor does it address all HR regulatory actions that may impact your business.

Most doctors agree that your diet is just as important to your health, if not more, than how much you exercise. When it comes to cannabis edibles, however, it can be hard to make healthy food decisions. Most dispensaries only offer infused sweets such as chocolates and gummies, and/or baked goods like cookies and brownies.

The Mint, a dispensary in Guadalupe, Ariz., is looking to serve a market segment with a more refined palate and bigger appetites for both food and cannabis through its in-house cannabis kitchen that offers made-to-order meals to its patients.

While it still offers the typical pastries and confectioneries, The Mint Café’s staff, led by a team of five chefs, serves a varied menu that includes artisan Beyond Meat burgers (THC is fat-soluble and binds well with the vegetable oils present in meat substitute products, Valle explains), pizza, street tacos, and macaroni and cheese.

“We saw a large, unmet need from patients who were regularly visiting our dispensary; they were looking to access fresh and healthy cannabis-infused foods,” Eivan Shahara, CEO of Brightroot, parent company of The Mint, said in the statement. “We know that the right kinds of healthy foods can help people battle a variety of illnesses, from cancer and epilepsy to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. We’re using our knowledge about food and nutrition to help patients in their search for fresh, healthy snacks and infused meals.”

The café’s impact on the company’s bottom line is not insignificant: Monthly sales of roughly $60,000 represent up to 6% of the dispensary’s total revenue, according to Brightroot’s VP of operations Raul Molina. More importantly, the kitchen has attracted attention beyond Guadalupe’s 6,597 residents (according to the 2018 U.S. census).

“The kitchen was one of the things that put us on the national scene,” Molina says.

(Food) Safety First

Building a cannabis kitchen was no small feat, Molina says, especially considering that no other cannabis licensee in Arizona had ever approached regulators about having a kitchen that would prepare made-to-order, to-go meals for customers.

“The state made a lot of hoops and hurdles to get the kitchen open,” Molina explains. The state rejected the company’s first proposed proof of design because it misunderstood that the dispensary wasn’t opening an area to make gummies and other pre-packaged goods. “They were a little taken aback by the menu when they saw that we had pizza and burgers” and all the commercial-grade kitchen equipment, he adds.

The Mint’s ownership spent several months (and more than $300,000) working with the state to ensure that the dispensary could remain compliant with both cannabis and food safety regulations. These negotiations and delays forced The Mint Café to open in October 2017, six months after its originally planned 4/20 opening date.

Molina says talks took a turn “when they figured out that we weren't going to give up [on having our kitchen]. … When they started telling us exactly what they wanted, that's when everything kind of moved a little quicker.” Ownership agreed to concessions on the menu to ensure ingredients are not quickly perishable—notably, all of The Mint Café’s items are vegetarian—and continuous efforts are made to educate consumers on expiration dates and how best to preserve their medicated meals at home, mostly through having conversations with patients when they pick up their to-go orders.

Made-to-Order

Christopher Valle is one of the chefs who oversees kitchen operations at The Mint Café. Raised in the food-service industry with his restaurateur grandparents, Valle has worked as a chef in professional kitchens for the past four years. He received cannabis training in his early 20s at Herbal Risings, a group offering classes to cannabis industry hopefuls. There, he took introductory courses on budtending, concentrates and cooking with cannabis. Among other things, he says that experience taught him the importance of decarboxylating cannabis (the heating process that turns THC-A into ?9-THC) before using it in cooking to ensure that patients are receiving as much of the benefits as possible.

In addition to its all-vegetarian menu, there are a multitude of vegan and diabetic-friendly options to cater to a wide variety of dietary restrictions. Pastries and hot food items are made in similar fashion: butter or oil, which is ever-present in the menu, gets infused with THC distillate that is carefully dosed with syringes before being used in recipes.

To ensure even distribution of the cannabinoids “when we do our pastries, we churn the butter with the [distillate] oil. We turn the butter with the oil, then we add sugar [or stevia for ketogenic recipes] and turn it some more before any other dry ingredients are added,” Valle explains.

Beepers let patients know when the order is ready for pickup, allowing them to simply wait in their car or wander the dispensary to make additional purchases. That said, items are often ready before patients complete their regular dispensary purchases. For example, the seven-cheese mac n’ cheese dish takes only eight minutes to prepare from scratch.

This rapid delivery allows The Mint Café to serve more than 100 items from the made-to-order kitchen to an average of 30 patients per day. Patients often come with multiple orders. Some patients go so far as to order a month’s worth of meals and freeze items. The culinary team members walk those patients through best practices to keep and defrost their frozen wares. (“Seal everything in airtight containers,” Valle says, and “don’t defrost items in a high-voltage microwave for more than 20 seconds at a time.”)

The culinary team continuously tweaks the menu, offering both regular staples and seasonal items in what Molina calls a “live menu.” During last year’s Super Bowl, for example, the dispensary sold out of its 300 pizzas it had planned for the event. “They went really, really fast,” Molina says. The team already was planning menus for Thanksgiving and the winter holidays in July.

During the summer, the dispensary had team members from Flourish (an edibles manufacturer in Arizona) teach its kitchen staff how to make infused, homemade ice cream. The team of chefs is eager to add that to the dispensary’s menu but is awaiting a pasteurizing machine to be able to make the ice cream in-house.

Another potential item that Valle would like to further explore is ginger beer. However, the chef says infusing beverages is much harder than infusing food, as THC is fat- and sugar-soluble but not water-soluble. “Infusing without sugar is hard,” he says. “My background is in healthy foods, and I’m working on a ketogenic diet menu, so I want to keep things without sugar,” which makes infusing drinks even more challenging. The fermentation process required to make ginger beer also needs to be reviewed and approved by state regulators before being introduced into the dispensary’s kitchen. A smoothie and juice bar are closer to reality than a ginger beer, Valle says, but he’s hopeful that the team will figure out an in-house recipe.

“We’re very passionate about the things that we do, and when we go into something, we do a lot of research and dive deep into things,” Valle says about their drive to innovate the menu.

Molina hopes to keep the kitchen’s momentum going and launch branded lines of homemade food products in the coming months. “I’m also in discussions with a couple of brands in California in the hopes of getting a licensing deal where we make their products in-house,” he says. “We’re always looking for good partners who want to do things the right way.”

The terms cannabinoids, terpenoids and flavonoids may not have the same market appeal as indica or sativa. But many industry experts say these secondary metabolites hold more value to cultivators and their customers than common strain names.

In the September issue of sister publication Cannabis Business Times, senior editor Brian MacIver explored some industry myths and how science is changing the way cultivators make strategic decisions (see the September 2019 cover story “The Science Void”). It’s a topic that Cannabis Dispensary also explored during the 2019 Cannabis Conference.

Andrea Sparr-Jaswa, now science editor at CBT and CD, addressed some of these key issues as the moderator for a panel on “Science That Sells: Debunking the Sativa and Indica Myths and Instead Focusing on Terpenoids, Cannabinoids and Flavonoids” at the 2019 event, which featured Jeremy Plumb, director of production science for Prf Cultivar; Jeremy Sackett, founder and chief science officer of Cascadia Labs; and Dr. Dominick Monaco, general manager at GB Sciences Inc.

Here are some highlights from the panel discussion and a glimpse at what’s to come for Cannabis Conference 2020 taking place at Paris Las Vegas April 21-23, 2020. (Note: the following has been edited for length and clarity.)

On the Indica vs. Sativa Myth

Plumb: We’ve worked for a long time to try to be more relevant at both Farma and now at my role at Prüf Cultivar, to try to … expose the ingredients. But the big issue is this: There’s morphology—like the plant structure. And when we look at narrow and broad leaves, from a plant morphology perspective, we can’t easily correlate that with the kinds of chemistry the plant produces. Really, this morphology was the basis for the original taxonomy.

And it’s gone through many waves. But the reality is, we’re in a new era where we have really distinctive features for phytochemistry on one side of the equation and then distinctive features for the morphological development of the plant on the other. But the giant issue happens when we try to connect the two. And really, [we] can never say that the narrow-leafed sativa plant is producing these focusing and euphoriant effects. That’s really going to come down to the molecules and the inventory and the chemistry in that plant.

Sackett: We’ll never find this perfect archetype of (indica/sativa) in the commercial market now. There’s a third category that’s often used, which is “hybrid.” The problem is … they’re all hybrids. These categories that have become popularized … are a bit unfortunate. You see … we have this moment in history to really change people’s lives with the inventory of phytochemistry, [and] we’re seeing really unfortunate labeling of the ingredients or misrepresentations altogether.

Sparr-Jaswa: Yeah, hybridization in the market and just this constant evolution of perpetuating new genetics—which is incredibly exciting—has completely rendered the [indica/sativa] dichotomy meaningless.

On Data Transparency and Targeted Effects

Monaco: If we don’t actually start collecting that [phytochemical] data, we don’t know if it’s actually having effects on therapeutic value for our patients or our customers. There could be a phytol, a sterol, an ester in there that’s causing all of these actual great therapeutic effects. Metabolomics [the study of metabolites’ effects on cells] is definitely where we’re going to find out exactly where the plant and body meet. We always talk about seed-to-sale, right? But we need to talk about seed-to-outcomes … because that’s where we’re going to get all of this actual data … where we’re going to push this forward.

Sackett: And, you know, that outcome at this juncture, as you mentioned, is really patient-based and empowering the patient or adult consumer to really understand what they are consuming. It just takes a little bit of motivation on the retail end. And then, hopefully, empowering the consumer to start tracking their outcome based on these sets of terpene and cannabinoid information that they now have.

Plumb: [Data allows us to] really meet people’s needs and take care of them in a more targeted way. … It always comes back on us to actually report and collect that data in a wholehearted way—to make sure it’s transparent and make sure that it’s not adulterated in any way, and that it’s analyzed correctly. Because, you know, if we start correlating things that aren’t correlatable, then we’re back to square one.

Metabolomics is definitely where we’re going to find out exactly where the plant and body meet. Dr. Dominick Monaco, general manager, GB Sciences Inc.

On Navigating Environmental Effects on Phytochemistry

Plumb: The reality is, if you are a producer as I am, you would see an unbelievable range of phytochemistry from one plant as a result of small changes in the environment. So, the kinds of things that contribute to affecting the secondary metabolite profile of drugs the plant is making include: temperature, relative humidity, light intensity, light wavelength, frequency of irrigation, nutrition programs, harvest timing—all sorts of things beyond the genetic material itself.

… So, for people who advocate sun-growing—which I am a huge fan of—we need to absolutely ecologically produce cannabis as … our carbon footprint scales. … But, on the other hand, we really need targeted effects and plants that can produce consistent arrays of phytochemistry in order to meet diverse people’s needs. So, there’s a really important role to play in controlled environment agriculture—in precision agriculture.

Monaco: You know, having cultivated 1.5 million grams every year out of our local Las Vegas facility, I can attest to the fact that it’s very difficult to get batches to be the same. We’ve noticed variance from room to room, time of year. … And having that laboratory data to come and back-end your actual production data to say, “OK, so my VPD went off here or my light shut off here or my CO2 went off and I had to switch out a tank for that day.” ... Knowing those kinds of things and then correlating it with the actual laboratory data is absolutely key if you want to fine-tune your operation.

On Nomenclature and Setting Consumer Expectations

Sackett: And speaking to the standardization of testing labs … there are many national organizations working to set those standards. … The general quality practices of any laboratory are consistent to a food laboratory, a pharmaceutical laboratory. But I’ve sat in rooms where [strain] names were changed just because the marketing team thought it would sell better under this name. I think ... what is in that name is really those phytochemicals. Using that profile to navigate both consumer choices as well as those breeding and cultivation choices is super important.

Plumb: We’re still at a moment where there is an incredible amount of genetic diversity. … And we have an opportunity to actually do an honest inventory and start to represent the products more accurately to consumers. So clearly diminishing the relevance of the strain name is a fundamental part of that and really moving forward the chemovar … is really the most important thing I see happening in terms of being more relevant to a mass market.

Sackett: Moving a product forward with those different claims of experience is a little bit early in my opinion. …And, ultimately, a dream that I have is that somebody can walk into a retail shop and be drawn to a terpinolene-dominant section, a caryophyllene-dominant section, a pinene-dominant section and have those grouped together and be able to make better choices.

So, I really think that we’re at a place where it’s just going to take a while, and we have to be humble and use great science and collaborate and be mature as an industry. And recognize what we don’t know and where we have to go to be able to serve the most people at the deepest level.