High End Market Place in Vancouver, Washington has recently announced that 100% of its employees will be certified medical marijuana consultants, as approved by the Washington State Department of Health.
Beginning July 1, consultants will be ready to enter patients into the Washington State Department of Health’s database system. If patients choose to be entered into the database, they will be able to purchase cannabis products sales tax-free, grow six to 15 plants based on physician’s recommendation, purchase up to three times the current recreational limit, and have access to certain medical-only products. Consultants will also be available to answer any questions for individuals who may qualify as patients under the Cannabis Patient Protection Act.
In order to become a consultant, employees were required to take a state approved (DOH and LCB approved) 20-hour training course, become CPR certified, and submit required documentation to the Washington State Department of Health. In addition, High End staff are able to now make medically-focused recommendations on products that may help patients and individuals suffering from qualifying conditions.
“We feel that we’ve offered medical grade products since we opened in January 2015, and we are really excited to be one of the few stores making the shift to medical in Southwest Washington,” owner Morgan Hutchinson said. “We are prepared to continue to allow safe access to the most responsibly produced cannabis in the market to date, and we understand that with this medical certification comes huge responsibility. In addition to offering access to the safest products in the market, we also need to be very sensitive to the privacy of patient’s information, and we are aware of the high level of security and confidentiality that will need to take place with this new medical endorsement.”
In March 2016, High End Market Place began third party testing as an extra precaution to providing safe access to their customers, and the emphasis on safe products continues to be its number one priority. After visiting over 100 producer/processor facilities across Washington state, High End Market Place fears irresponsible practices seem to be widespread and products continue to be sold in the recreational market that may not be safe to ingest. Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board released a product recall earlier this year, Hutchison hopes this deters businesses from participating in irresponsible practices as this shift from recreational to medical transforms Washington’s overall approach to cannabis.