Cannabis regulators are placing a greater emphasis on:
Real quick, here's a fast, bullet-point overview of the most common training categories required or strongly recommended for 2026:
This includes:
- State-required Vendor Training (RVT)
- ID verification + preventing underage sales
- Security procedures (opening, closing, incident handling)
- Product storage + handling
- Customer service + safe use guidance
- POS training and cash handling
- Traceability / METRC compliance
This includes:
- OSHA-compliant safety training
- Chemical storage and handling
- PPE usage
- Sanitation protocols
- Harvesting standards
- Waste management procedures
This includes:
- GMP-aligned manufacturing training
- Hazard communicaiton (HazCom)
- Extraction safety and SOPs
- Equipment operation and lockout/tagout
- Fire, chemical, and emergency response training
This includes:
- Chain-of-custody procedures
- Secure transport guidelines
- Customer ID verification
- Route and manifest compliance
- Recordkeeping requirements
If you're interested, let's take a deeper look into what each of these trainings cover and why exactly they matter.
RVT remains the cornerstone of cannabis retail in 2026. It teaches employees core legal requirements, including how to verify IDs, follow purchase limits, handle restricted products, and understand penalties for violations. With increased compliance checks, inspectors are now routinely asking staff questions on the spot, making RVT both a legal requirement and a practical necessity.
As cannabis facilities adopt more advanced equipment, regulators are focusing on whether businesses provide adequate safety training. OSHA-style instruction - covering PPE, electrical safety, chemicals, ergonomics, and emergency procedures - is becoming a baseline expectation. In 2026, more operators will be cited for incomplete or missing safety training records.
Cannabis is a high-security industry, and employees must know how to respond to things like theft, tampering, suspicious activity, and emergencies. In 2026, regulators are placing more emphasis on employee knowledge of daily security protocols, including inventory lockups, surveillance awareness, and incident documentation.
Regulators are increasingly attentive to how cannabis employees communicate with customers. Staff must understand the things like product categories, potency, dosing guidelines, and safe consumption practices. Misinformation can now result in regulatory penalties, and in some states, civil liability.
Inventory discrepancies remain one of the leading causes of penalties across all legal cannabis states. Employees must understand how to use systems like METRC, BioTrack, or your state's equivalent. In 2026, more states are adopting even more stricter enforcement around reconciling counts, correcting errors, and documenting adjustments properly.
Training requirements are becoming more standardized, more enforced, and more essential each year. In 2026, the cannabis businesses that succeed will be the ones that:
- Prioritize ongoing training -
- Keep certificates current -
- Maintain clean documentation -
- and Ensure every employee understands their compliance basics -
By investing in comprehensive, up-to-date training now, operators can avoid expensive penalties, protect their licenses, and strengthen their workforce as the industry continues to evolve.
