On November 30, 2020, the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) approved revisions to the Massachusetts Adult-Use and Medical-Use cannabis Regulations and on January 8, 2021, the new Regulations were officially published. The revisions include changes to annual Responsible Vendor Training (RVT) course requirements. Over the past two weeks, the CCC has been providing additional information regarding these changes to certified training providers like Stoker. Here's what licensees and agents need to know:
The RVT course has been replaced with a new course called Basic Core Curriculum (Basic Core).
Like the RVT course, the Basic Core course must be delivered by a certified training provider and must be completed annually.
Unlike the RVT course, the Basic Core course is mandatory not only for Marijuana Establishment Agents, but also for Medical Marijuana Treatment Center (MTC) Agents and Laboratory Agents.
The new Regulations require Agents to annually complete 4 hours of training provided by certified training providers and, because the Basic Core course is the only certified course that is currently available (the new Regulations also mention Advanced Core Curriculum courses scheduled to become available in 2022), the CCC has interpreted the new Regulations to mean that the Basic Core course must be 4 hours long, including at least 2 hours of instruction.
The CCC has set a deadline of February 10th for certified RVT training providers to submit revised course content for approval,
After February 10th only the Basic Core course can be used to satisfy annual training requirements.
Agents who complete a certified RVT course prior to February 10th will be treated as having satisfied their annual training requirement for one full year from the date of completion and won't be require to take the Basic Core course until that year expires.
On January 19th, Stoker Consulting submitted its proposed new Basic Core course content to the CCC and received same-day approval to begin delivering the Basic Core course to the Massachusetts cannabis industry. (We'd like to think that painstaking preparation and attention to detail made the review process an easy one for regulators.)
The Basic Core course is now available from Stoker. We offer courses that are open to the public twice per month and that can be booked online here. Please feel free to contact us to inquire about booking a private session for your team or to learn about discounted rates for corporate clients and free training for Social Equity an Economic Empowerment applicants.
At Stoker Consulting we take the grind out of compliance...
