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Cannabis safety depends on the knowledge and practices of the people responsible for patient care, product quality, education, and oversight. From physicians, nurses, and pharmacists to dispensary staff, manufacturers, laboratory professionals, regulators, educators, and emergency responders, each plays a role in ensuring that patients receive accurate information, safe products, and appropriate guidance and support.

Cannabis is becoming part of mainstream healthcare and everyday life, but its integration into established professions and institutions remains incomplete. Decades of prohibition and stigma limited opportunities for formal education, professional development, and the creation of standards that other fields take for granted. As a result, healthcare professionals increasingly encounter patients using cannabis without having received formal training in cannabinoid pharmacology, dosing, drug interactions, adverse effects, or product quality.

At the same time, the growth of legal cannabis markets has created new specialized occupations and professional responsibilities that require their own standards for education, competency, ethics, and accountability. Dispensary staff must help customers navigate complex product choices; manufacturers and laboratories must ensure product quality and safety; and regulators must oversee an evolving marketplace with distinct scientific and technical challenges.

Patients need a knowledgeable, well-trained network of professionals who can provide reliable information, informed guidance, and confidence in the safety and quality of cannabis products and services. Integrating cannabis safely into healthcare and society requires both incorporating cannabis education into existing professions and establishing credible professional standards for the new occupations and specialties emerging around it. Whether someone provides medical care, develops products, conducts laboratory testing, enforces regulations, or educates the public, they need reliable, evidence-informed training suited to their responsibilities.

The Professional Standard Award recognizes professional development, continuing education, certification, academic, and workforce training programs that are helping build this foundation. These initiatives bring cannabis knowledge into established professional fields while setting standards for an emerging, specialized workforce. Together, they help ensure cannabis safety is supported by professional competence, ethical practices, continuing education, quality standards, and accountability, rather than left to individual interpretation or trial and error.

The 2026 nominees are CannabizMD, Cannify, Cannabis Safety & Quality, the International Society of Cannabis Pharmacists, and Project Destigmatize HealTHCare

Learn more about the Professional Standard Award!

MEET THE PROFESSIONAL STANDARD AWARD NOMINEES

CannabizMD

CannabizMD approaches cannabis education as workforce safety infrastructure, serving dispensary employees, cannabis operators, healthcare professionals, people entering the industry, and leaders responsible for compliance and policy decisions. Its work includes Maryland-approved Responsible Vendor Training, workforce development, professional education, cannabis science and policy programming, and training for people entering cultivation, processing, and dispensary jobs.

CannabizMD also developed AskCBMD.ai to provide professionals with information drawn from reviewed research and regulatory sources. Across its programs, the goal is to make cannabis science, patient communication, safety, and compliance part of professional preparation rather than knowledge workers are expected to acquire informally after they are already on the job.

Cannify

Cannify developed Medical Budtender Basics to address one of the most important professional boundaries in cannabis retail: dispensary employees are often a primary source of information for patients, but they are not healthcare professionals and should not be practicing medicine from behind the counter. Its BUDDY framework teaches staff to understand patient needs, recognize relevant context and risk factors, provide evidence informed education, and know when a question requires referral to a healthcare professional.

The program also emphasizes cannabis information literacy so workers can continue evaluating credible information as science and products evolve. In 2026, Vermont adopted the program as mandatory education for dispensary staff serving medical cannabis patients, and more than 200 budtenders have completed the training. Cannify also provides accredited continuing education for healthcare professionals.

Cannabis Safety & Quality

Cannabis Safety & Quality, or CSQ, brings professional standards and certification practices used in other regulated industries into cannabis and hemp production. Its accredited certification framework incorporates Good Manufacturing Practices, Good Agricultural and Collection Practices, ASTM and ISO aligned standards, and regulatory requirements across the cannabis supply chain.

CSQ also provides professional workshops covering product hazards, preventive controls, GMPs, quality systems, and how certification can help prevent safety problems rather than respond only after products fail. Its work helps turn product safety from a regulatory requirement into an operational responsibility carried out by trained professionals throughout cultivation, manufacturing, and distribution.

International Society of Cannabis Pharmacists

The International Society of Cannabis Pharmacists developed CliniCan Foundations to strengthen cannabis knowledge among healthcare professionals. The continuing education program addresses cannabinoid pharmacology, the endocannabinoid system, clinical evidence, dosing and titration, adverse effects, drug interactions, patient assessment, therapeutic monitoring, product formulations, contaminants, analytical testing, Certificates of Analysis, and regulatory standards.

The program applies familiar medication safety principles to cannabinoid care, including medication reconciliation, monitoring, risk assessment, patient education, and evaluation of therapeutic response. Its interdisciplinary and international faculty brings together pharmacists, clinicians, researchers, and other experts to translate a rapidly evolving evidence base into practical information healthcare professionals can use in patient care.

Project Destigmatize HealTHCare

Project Destigmatize HealTHCare, founded by nurse and public health researcher Drudys “Dru” Ledbetter, BSN, RN, focuses on a professional practice problem that can easily be overlooked: patients may be using cannabis therapeutically without that use being documented or meaningfully incorporated into their healthcare. The project is collecting real-world information about cannabis use, reasons for use, disclosure to healthcare professionals, and the experiences that influence whether patients feel comfortable discussing cannabis with their clinicians.

When cannabis use is missing from a patient’s health information, clinicians may also be missing information relevant to medications, side effects, sedation, dosing, treatment decisions, and other safety concerns. Through research, professional education, public dialogue, and policy work, Project Destigmatize HealTHCare is helping build a stronger foundation for treating cannabis as relevant clinical information rather than a subject patients and providers avoid discussing.

Professional Standards Turn Knowledge Into Practice

Cannabis education cannot stop with patients and consumers. The people designing products, advising patients, operating dispensaries, writing regulations, managing quality systems, and providing healthcare all make decisions that affect cannabis safety.

The nominees for the 2026 Professional Standard Award are helping build the professional infrastructure medical cannabis needs. Patients should not have to be the most cannabis educated person in the room when they speak with a healthcare professional, enter a dispensary, or rely on a regulated system designed to protect them.

Cast your vote for the 2026 Professional Standard Award through October 25.