The MED conducts surprise visits throughout the year to make sure businesses are following a variety of rules, including ID checks at dispensaries as well as machine and cultivation inspections at production facilities. For example, the MED may ask an underage customer to attempt to enter a dispensary, and if the person is not stopped, the MED would then levy punishment such as fines or licensing restrictions on the business owner.
The new law, introduced at the State Legislature by Representative Kerry Tipper, now forces the MED to consider whether employees have undergone responsible-vendor training and had the intent to comply with rules when breaking them, according to Colin Mudd, founder of marijuana training provider Konope Compliance.
According to Mudd, if an employee works at a business that has a poor history of compliance, individuals can further inform themselves about public health and safety. Mudd believes that having individual responsible-vendor designation in 2018 might have given Sweet Leaf employees better context to understand how they were liable.