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Online Responsible Vendor Training in Recreational Marijuana Stores

Online Responsible Vendor Training in Recreational Marijuana Stores

A collaborative research team with scientists and staff from Klein Buendel, the Prevention Research Center in Berkeley, California, and the University of Alabama, Birmingham recently published the results from a randomized trial testing an online responsible vendor training program in recreational marijuana stores in the United States. The team was led by Dr. David Buller, Director of Research, and the results were published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs (JSAD).

The responsible marijuana vendor (RMV) training program implemented in the study was Train To Tend®. Train To Tend is an interactive, media-rich, online, comprehensive RMV program created by Klein Buendel. It’s five modules address state laws and regulations, preventing sales to minors, health effects of marijuana, customer service, and rules of the trade. Train To Tend provides state-approved instruction and certification of cannabis sellers. 

In the JSAD publication, the authors detail the measures, methods, analyses, and results of the randomized trial to evaluate the impact of the RMV training program on refusing sales to buyers without proper identification. The trial was conducted with 175 recreational marijuana stores in Colorado and Washington State using a pseudo-underage patron procedure. The results showed that online RMV training could increase sellers’ refusal of potential buyers at entrance to the store who looked youthful and did not provide state-approved identification.

As more states legalize recreational marijuana sales, responsible vendor training in the safe sale of cannabis products can become more essential to helping to ensure youth and community safety.

This research was funded by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health (DA038933; Dr. David Buller, Principal Investigator). Co-authors on the publication include Dr. Robert Saltz from the Prevention Research Center in California; Dr. Gary Cutter from the University of Alabama, Birmingham; and Dr. W. Gill Woodall, Andrew Grayson, Mary Klein Buller, Sierra Svendsen, and Xia (Lucia) Liu from Klein Buendel.

ID Compliance by Recreational Marijuana Stores in Two States

ID Compliance by Recreational Marijuana Stores in Two States

The recreational sale of marijuana has begun in ten U.S. states and seems likely to expand to several others. Only state-licensed stores can sell recreational marijuana products and only persons over age 21 who provide a valid state-approved identification (ID) can enter the stores and purchase marijuana. The age and ID regulations are intended to prevent youth gaining access to recreational marijuana, and it is important to investigate whether these age and ID restrictions are actually working.

Research collaborators from Klein Buendel and the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, measured compliance with age and ID regulations by state-licensed recreational marijuana stores in two states and reported their findings in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. The paper reports assessment of sale refusal rates in a large, diverse sample of stores selling recreational marijuana in the states of Colorado and Washington. The paper’s analyses describe ID checking behavior by store personnel, estimate refusal rates, and explore factors associated with refusal. 

One hundred seventy-five recreational marijuana stores in Colorado and Washington were visited twice by pseudo-buyer assessment teams in September 2016 to April 2017. A young-adult buyer attempted to enter the store and purchase marijuana without showing a state-approved identification. In the second Colorado visit, a buyer aged 18-20 showed an underage driver’s license and attempted to enter the store and purchase marijuana. No cannabis products were actually purchased.

All stores requested an ID. Stores refused buyers in 73.6% of visits at the entrance, 88.3% cumulative before the counter, and 92.6% cumulative by the time of a purchase attempt. Refusal was lower in Washington than in Colorado but it did not differ by buyer protocol. Overall, compliance with laws restricting marijuana sales to individuals 21 or older with a valid ID was high. The authors suggest that compliance in Washington might be improved by having store personnel check IDs at the store entry. Recreational stores may not be selling marijuana directly to youth, although no information was collected on straw purchases. The measures, methods, analyses, results, conclusions, and limitations are detailed in the publication.

This research was funded by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health (DA038933; Dr. David Buller, Principal Investigator). Coauthors include Dr. Gill Woodall and Ms. Mary Buller from KB, and Dr. Robert Saltz from the Prevention Research Center at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation.

Responsible Marijuana Vendor Training

Responsible Marijuana Vendor Training

Dr. David Buller, Klein Buendel Senior Scientist and Director of Research, presented recent work by his research team at the Tenth European Society for Prevention Research (EUSPR) Conference and Members’ Meeting in Ghent, Belgium in September. His presentation, “Effects of an Online Responsible Vendor Training for Recreational Cannabis Stores on Sales to Pseudo-intoxicated Customers: Need for Increased Deterrence,” was coauthored by Dr. Gill Woodall, Mr. Andrew Grayson, Ms. Sierra Svendsen, and Ms. Mary Buller from Klein Buendel; and Dr. Robert Saltz from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation.

The advent of recreational cannabis in Canada, Uruguay, and several U.S. states raises the risk of polysubstance-impaired driving. In alcohol markets, training in responsible sales practices is an intervention to reduce sales to intoxicated patrons and thus prevent impaired driving and other harms. Similar training may benefit communities with recreational cannabis sales.

An online responsible marijuana vendor (RMV) training, Train To Tend, was developed with input from state regulators and store personnel. Among its five modules, learning elements taught store personnel to recognize signs of alcohol impairment and intoxication, refuse sales, and understand the risks of driving under the influence of cannabis. A sample of 150 recreational cannabis stores in Colorado, Oregon, and Washington State, USA were enrolled in a randomized controlled trial, half of which were randomly assigned to use the RMV training. Stores were posttested using a pseudo-intoxicated patron (PiP) protocol in which confederate buyers feigned obvious signs of intoxication.

Sales of cannabis to PiPs were refused at only 16 of 144 stores across the three states. There was no difference in refusal rates between intervention and control stores or between stores that used the RMV training or not. In 11 visits, store personnel commented on the buyers’ behavior or expressed concern/suspicion about buyers but sold to them anyway.

Training in responsible sales practices alone did not appear to reduce sales to intoxicated customers. Legal deterrence from making these sales may be insufficient or nonexistent for store management to support adherence to this responsible sales practice. Regulatory actions (such as swift, severe, and certain penalties) may be needed to increase perceived risk with such sales  to achieve training’s benefits.

This research was sponsored by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health (DA038933; Dr. David Buller, Principal Investigator). Train To Tend was programmed by the Creative Team at Klein Buendel.

Dr. David Buller presenting the RMV training program
Refusal of Pseudo-intoxicated Customers at Retail Marijuana Stores

Refusal of Pseudo-intoxicated Customers at Retail Marijuana Stores

Klein Buendel Senior Scientist, Dr. David Buller presented a poster at the Society for Prevention Research Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California in May. The poster presented insights on whether personnel in recreational marijuana stores refuse sales to buyers who appear to be intoxicated.

Recreational marijuana is sold by state-licensed stores in seven U.S. states. Like alcohol, sales are prohibited to persons younger than age 21 and sometimes to persons who are apparently intoxicated. A sample of 150 licensed retail stores in Colorado, Oregon, and Washington were selected from state regulatory agency lists. A majority of stores sold both recreational and medical marijuana. The sample was stratified between the largest metropolitan area in each state (Denver, Portland, and Seattle) and nearby regions with smaller cities.

Pseudo-patron assessment teams comprised of a ‘buyer’ and an ‘observer’, visited each store once from August to October 2018. Buyers attempted to enter the premises while feigning obvious signs of intoxication (for example: slurred speech, stumbling, dropped change or ID) and attempted to purchase a low-cost cannabis product. Observers recorded whether buyers gained entry and if the clerk offered to sell marijuana (no actual purchases were made).

Refusal rates were rare. Overall, refusal rates were slightly higher in the states of Colorado and Oregon than in Washington. A state law that explicitly prohibited sales in Oregon may have slightly decreased sales there, while refusals in Colorado may be attributed to the wide-scale use of security guards checking IDs at entrances. These high rates of sales to apparently intoxicated customers are a cause for concern, especially in light of research indicating that the combination of alcohol and marijuana intoxication appears to severely impair driver performance.

This research project is funded by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health (DA038933; Dr. David Buller, Principal Investigator). Additional collaborators include Dr. Robert Saltz from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Oakland, California; and Dr. Gill Woodall and Andrew Grayson from Klein Buendel.

Mothers’ Beliefs about Adolescent Marijuana Use

Mothers’ Beliefs about Adolescent Marijuana Use

Marijuana laws are changing rapidly in the United States, which poses potential challenges for parent-child communication about avoiding marijuana use during adolescence. Klein Buendel Research Program Manager, Julia Berteletti, presented insights from a Facebook-delivered intervention and randomized trial with mothers and teen daughters at the 40th Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions of the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM), March 6-9, 2019 in Washington, DC.

Baseline survey responses, a sample of posts on preventing marijuana use, and comments were analyzed for understanding mothers’ and daughters’ marijuana use and beliefs about marijuana. The research was testing mothers’ engagement with a social media campaign on adolescent health delivered via private Facebook groups. The sample was comprised of over 800 mothers with adolescent daughters aged 14-17 from 34 U.S. states. As the primary trial purpose was to prevent indoor tanning, eligibility included residing in one of 34 states without a complete ban on indoor tanning for minors. Of these states, 15 have legalized medical marijuana sales, three have legalized medical and recreational sales, and 16 have not legalized sales of marijuana.

Both mothers and daughters completed a baseline survey. Overall, mothers believed that marijuana is harmful for adolescents. Fewer daughters used marijuana than mothers, and daughters felt marijuana use was less harmful than mothers. Both mothers and daughters who used marijuana found it less harmful than non-users. Compared to non-recreational states, mothers in states with recreational marijuana sales felt it was more harmful, but state laws did not significantly affect use by mothers or daughters.  

Facebook comments supporting marijuana use from mothers pertained to benefits of cannabinoids over opioids and providing daughters with information to make their own choices, for example. Negative comments included adverse effects on developing brains, lack of research, and dangers of it being “laced” with other drugs. Mothers also shared reasons to say “no” and how to discuss long-term effects with their daughters.

This research project is funded by a grant from the National Cancer Institute (CA192652; Dr. David Buller, Klein Buendel, Principal Investigator). Collaborators include Dr. Barbara Walkosz and Julia Berteletti from Klein Buendel, Dr. Sherry Pagoto and Jessica Bibeau from the University of Connecticut, Dr. Katie Baker and Dr. Joel Hillhouse from East Tennessee State University, and Dr. Kim Henry from Colorado State University.