It will take four hours of online training before employees can step behind the counter of a pot shop in this province. That’s the average length of time a mandatory course known as CannSell will take prospective workers in Ontario’s forthcoming cannabis stores to complete, its builders say.Created by the cannabis resource company Lift & Co. and MADD Canada, the program was announced this week by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario as the sole certification program for all store employees.“By law everyone that touches cannabis (in) retail essentially has to have this course,” said Lift and Co. head Matei Olaru. “CannSell is meant to educate cannabis retail employees on the responsible sale of cannabis and their legal and regulatory obligations,” Olaru said.The $49.99 (plus tax) course will be offered starting Feb. 25 and will have to graduate its first class in time for the scheduled April 1 opening of Ontario’s 25 initial brick-and-mortar shops.Read more:First store could be in YorkvilleCanada’s edibles could be much weaker than U.S.Collective Arts craft brewer branches out to potCentral to the self-guided program, said MADD Canada CEO Andrew Murie, is its focus on responsible sales.“The drug presence in (road) fatalities is three times what it is for alcohol,” Murie said. “We’ve done an amazing job on alcohol so we need to applaud ourselves for that, but we still haven’t had the same rigour around cannabis.”Murie said safety issues covered in the course will largely mirror those found in the Smart Serve Ontario training program, required of LCBO workers.Most important, he said, are the program’s focus on the legal liability that stores could face; federal and provincial regulations surrounding pot; and the ability to recognize both cannabis and alcohol impairment. “If you train people to know their jobs so they don’t serve minors, they don’t ...
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