When Canadians walk into a cannabis retail store, the person greeting them at the counter — the budtender — is often their first guide into the world of regulated cannabis.

Customers frequently arrive with questions about pain, anxiety, sleep, or other health concerns, hoping for answers. However, under Canadian law, budtenders must walk a fine line: they can explain the differences between strains and formats, but they cannot make medical or therapeutic claims.

The result is a daily balancing act for frontline staff, one that experts say carries both compliance risks and important consequences for consumer safety.

Matt Maurer, Chair of the Cannabis Law Group at Torkin Manes, says the rules are clear in principle: budtenders are not permitted to make health claims.

“I always start from the premise that you’re not allowed to advertise unless it’s permitted,” Maurer explains. “Obviously, budtenders are within a 19+ environment, so they are allowed to say things and be a bit more liberal. The biggest [issues] I usually see are the health claims. You’re not allowed to make representations about what the product can do.”

This distinction may sound straightforward, but in practice, it isn’t always. Maurer points to the controversy surrounding one retail chain’s past use of product names like “Calm” and “Tranquil.” “That was very controversial at the time because people were saying that it was a health claim and [they] said it was just a description. But there is some ambiguity even around that, in terms of is it a health claim or just describing what the product is.”

Crossing the line, he warns, could mean serious consequences. “It could lead to a large fine for both the company and the employee, or potentially jail time.” But in reality, enforcement is rare. 

“The only way for a budtender to get in trouble for saying something unauthorized would be if they said it to a secret shopper from the AGCL for example, or if the customer were to complain to Health Canada or the provincial regulator. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a budtender be disciplined for making improper advertising claims.”

Where Pharmacists Step In

For Anushya Vijayaraghevan, Co-Founder and Pharmacist at Apothecare, the stakes are less about regulators and more about patient safety.

“At Apothecare, we train retail partners to recognize the boundary between general product knowledge and health-related advice,” she says. “Even a seemingly simple question like ‘What’s best for pain?’ requires a healthcare lens, because without proper oversight it could lead to harm.”

Her team has developed training modules to help staff recognize when a conversation crosses into medical territory. “We make it clear that budtenders are not permitted to make health claims or offer medical advice. Recommending a product for a condition, especially if a customer is on other medications, could create risks of dangerous drug interactions. Beyond the health implications for the customer, this could expose the retailer to liability if the advice were ever challenged.”

Instead, Apothecare pharmacists provide evidence-based consultations, with privacy protections and professional liability insurance built into their system. “Our services exist to reduce that risk,” Vijayaraghevan explains. “By giving retailers a compliant, reliable system to redirect health-related questions, we protect stores and help them align with OCS and Health Canada guidance.”

A Difficult Position for Budtenders

Dr. Ife Abiola, MD, Co-Founder of Demonet, sees the issue as a fundamental tension between regulation and reality. Many customers entering recreational stores are, in fact, seeking medical relief.

“I’m for education, considering how many people in recreational stores are there for medical purposes,” he says. “It’s tough to know where the line is until you cross it. Is saying the qualities of a certain product as a matter of fact giving advice? At face value, no. But when it comes to regulation, it depends on who is regulating you. The cannabis industry and the workers are in a difficult spot.”

For Abiola, the problem dates back to legalization itself. “The whole system was crafted around the medical patient. Since the days of decriminalization and shifting regulation, the goal was to make sure the people who desperately needed cannabis could get it. Now that recreational cannabis is here, we have medical patients directed to retail stores where the necessary education isn’t there. Even if the budtender could answer the question, in a lot of cases they aren’t allowed to.”

When a customer directly asks about conditions like pain, anxiety, or sleep, Abiola says budtenders must be careful. “A lot of time the budtender has to firmly disclose that they can’t give them advice on what they need for a condition. They can speak to the effects of a product but not how it will relate to their issues. The way around this is that they can forward them to someone who can help them effectively and with the expertise to do so safely.”

Vijayaraghevan echoes this approach. “When [health-related] questions arise at the store level, staff are trained to respond with transparency: they explain that they cannot provide medical advice about specific health conditions. Instead, they let the customer know the store is partnered with Apothecare pharmacists [if the store is], who can support them in a safe, evidence-based way.”

Compliance, Consequences, and Best Practices

The consequences of crossing regulatory lines vary. A store could face warnings, penalties, or fines. But Abiola stresses that compliance training should focus on more than fear. “To be compliant, it’s important to educate your staff on how to navigate these conversations. Not only what not to say, but what to say to be an effective salesperson and steward of this industry to people in need.”

That means giving staff the right resources. “They need resources to pass on to medical seekers showing who they can talk to, and why it’s a better option than self-medicating or contorting their medical needs into generic buckets that might do more harm to them than good in the long run.”

Vijayaraghevan agrees, pointing out that liability ultimately rests with the retailer, not the pharmacist. “If a budtender were to recommend a product inappropriately and it led to harm — for example, through a dangerous medication interaction — the retailer could be exposed to legal action or regulatory penalties. By redirecting those conversations to pharmacists, staff protect both the customer’s safety and the store’s compliance.”

Despite frustrations, Maurer believes the regulatory framework around budtender speech is unlikely to shift soon. “I don’t see a lot of momentum now for change in what budtenders can say, at least in Ontario. There just doesn’t seem to be a desire. It’s like the industry is settling in.”

That leaves budtenders caught in an awkward role: educators who cannot educate too far, salespeople who must resist selling too much. For consumers, it means that meaningful guidance on cannabis as medicine must come from healthcare professionals, not the person behind the retail counter.

In the end, the safest script is also the simplest: budtenders can talk about products, but not about patients.