Jack Palis

There’s quite a bit of confusion about what sustainability means for a cannabis business. Too often, businesses still view sustainability as something extra they need to do to satisfy the public, governments, investors, and their employees.

The truth is sustainability is another tool for ongoing improvement of the business to build resilience, reduce costs to drive profitability, and strengthen the company’s reputation with its customer and its role in the local economy. Healthy cannabis businesses create a healthier cannabis industry.

Businesses, through their activities and relationships, impact people positively or negatively as a result of its impacts to the economy, the environment, and its employees, customers, and community. Understanding these impacts and acting to create more positive impacts while reducing negative ones is intention of a well-thought out sustainability plan.

For example, sustainability reporting in accordance with the widely accepted Global Reporting Initiative framework is designed so any business can understand its impacts to the economy, the environment, and people, including impacts on their human rights (you can find the GRI standards here.)

Sustainability goes beyond reducing environmental impacts, which is where most companies limit their attention. Rather than being at the effect of external factors, sustainability directs attention and actions internally which increasingly is being shown to lead to greater customer satisfaction, efficiency of operations, employee enthusiasm, community support.

This month’s newsletter highlights several widespread pain points for cannabis businesses including, inventory management (impacts to a business’ profitability and potentially reputation), putting people in the right positions to succeed and reduce employee turnover (impacts to people), and training to development employee skills and operational efficiency and resilience (impacts to people and cost reduction). The first step to develop a tailored sustainability plan for any business is to identify and assess its potential impacts to the economy, environment, and people, so it can then prioritize and plan actions to reduce the negative impacts that result in costs to the business and improve the positive impacts that create value for the business.

We are proud to announce a new professional certification available through The National Cannabis Risk Management Association (NCRMA): Professional Cannabis Risk Manager (PCRM).

This is the premier certification for demonstrating knowledge and understanding of the broad scope of operational risks in the cannabis industry.

The program consists of 33 courses covering general risk management and insurance for cannabis businesses as well as specific subjects such as occupational safety & health, compliance, medical cannabis, and talent optimization. Upon completion of the courses and passing a final exam, the PCRM certification is designed to educate and expand on the professional’s awareness and understanding of the many risks of cannabis operations. The courses are delivered by 14 different subject matter experts that are recognized and respected in their fields and the cannabis industry.

Professionals in many fields obtain various types of certifications and designations to demonstrate the level of knowledge and training in cannabis risk identification and control, as well as their commitment to excellence and best practices.

Whether you are an experienced cannabis operator, compliance professional, safety professional, insurance broker, or you’re transfer your expertise to this rapidly growing industry, attaining the PCRM certification will make you stand out in a crowded industry and show your breadth and depth of knowledge in managing the numerous risks found in cannabis operations.

In addition, attaining the PCRM certification is a worthwhile goal as you plan your career, consider ways to expand your breadth of specialized knowledge, or simply to satisfy ongoing training and development objectives within your company.

Features:

• 33 courses across 6 areas of focus
• Delivering by 14 subject matter experts with diverse and deep cannabis experience.
• Over 26 hours of education
• Comprehensive final exam
• Certificate of completion

Pricing: Regularly priced at $1,995 with a special introductory offer of $995 until the new year!

The certification is obtained through the NCRM Academy.

A new course has been added to the National Cannabis Risk Management Academy entitled, “Site and Facility Evaluation and Feasibility”. This is a critical step in the pre-operational planning for a new cannabis business. The course outlines basic screening and assessment methodologies to avoid many of the pitfalls that are delaying and disrupting new business owners as they rush to get a foothold in the cannabis industry.
The objectives for this course are to:

• Increase your awareness of potential threats to your business associated with property acquisition and use of existing structures.
• Recognize possible problems that can delay and disrupt opening the doors due to not properly screening, assessing, and selecting a property.
• Understand the importance of establishing foundational business elements before starting a property search.
• Learn a simple, yet proven process to identify, screen, evaluate, and select the best available location(s) for your business.
• Learn key practices and considerations to include in the site selection process that go beyond basic location and zoning.
• Understand that the work you’re doing to select a location for your business is the start of taking control of your business for future success.

Check it out as well as our entire curriculum