Elective
Compliance Mastery
The deepest compliance course in the catalog, built for compliance managers, store managers who own compliance, and operators who treat audit posture as a core operational discipline. The curriculum opens with the U.S. cannabis regulatory architecture (federal-state, licensing pathways, zoning, the hemp gray market), then goes deep on Metrc fundamentals, manifest types, compliance technology beyond Metrc, and reconciliation discipline. The lab arc covers COA reading at scientist depth, testing standards and failure remediation, labeling compliance by state, and the full recall response playbook. Floor compliance covers ID verification, purchase limits, and marketing compliance. Physical compliance covers security, cash handling, and waste destruction. Delivery and ecommerce compliance, then the audit arc itself (what inspectors check, corrective-action plans, the SOP document set, training records) close the course before the capstone: running a mock audit.
26 lessons11.4 hours0 section quizzes8 chapters
Begin courseFree during early access
What you'll master
Outcomes you can defend.
- Map your state's cannabis regulatory architecture and explain the federal-state interaction at expert level
- Operate Metrc with audit-grade discipline and reconcile variance before it becomes a finding
- Read any COA at lab-scientist depth and execute the full recall response playbook
- Run security, cash, and waste-destruction operations that pass inspection without remediation
- Survive a state audit cold by maintaining the SOP, training, and documentation set every inspector asks for
- Run the weekly, monthly, and quarterly compliance rhythm that prevents findings rather than reacting to them
Curriculum
The full syllabus.
Every lesson, in the order we recommend you take them. Click any lesson to begin. Your progress saves automatically.
Part 01
4 lessons • 95 minRegulatory Landscape
- 01U.S. Cannabis Legality: Federal vs State, Sealed-State System, Path to ReschedulingA working map of how U.S. cannabis law actually functions today: why state-licensed medical cannabis moved to Schedule III in April 2026 while adult-use remains Schedule I, how the sealed-state system works, what 280E does to a P&L (medical operators now get relief going forward), where hemp fits, and what a pending June 2026 DEA hearing could change.26 min
- 02Licensing: Cultivation, Retail, Delivery, Distribution, ManufacturingHow the five plant-touching license types fit together in a legal cannabis market, what each one costs and gates, and how operators pick a license lane that matches their capital, timeline, and risk tolerance.23 min
- 03Zoning and Siting: The Overlays That Kill a ProjectHow to read state buffers, municipal overlays, and measurement methodology with enough rigor to kill a bad site in an afternoon instead of three months into a lease.20 min
- 04Hemp, Delta-8, and the Federal/State Gray MarketHow the 2018 Farm Bill's 0.3% dry-weight rule built a $28B intoxicating-hemp market parallel to licensed cannabis, what P.L. 119-37 changes on November 12, 2026, and how an operator reads hemp SKUs, state overlays, and the CBD gray market without getting burned.26 min
Part 02
4 lessons • 97 minMetrc Operations
- 05Metrc Fundamentals: Intake, Transfers, AdjustmentsHow Metrc actually works at the package level, the four manifest types an operator handles daily, and the reconciliation rhythm that keeps a dispensary audit-ready instead of audit-exposed.22 min
- 06Manifest Types and Variance ThresholdsHow the four Metrc manifest types (incoming, outgoing, transfer, adjustment) work at the receiving dock and back office, where variance thresholds sit, and the exact protocols that keep a dispensary out of an inspector's adjustment column.25 min
- 07Compliance Tech Beyond Metrc: BioTrack, Leaf Data, Reconciliation ToolsHow to read the compliance tech stack a state forces on you, the operational differences between Metrc, BioTrack, and Leaf Data Systems, and which reconciliation, COA, and ERP tools are worth a budget line on top of the state-mandated tracker.20 min
- 08Reconciliation: Detecting, Investigating, and Resolving VarianceHow to run a clean monthly Metrc reconciliation, decode the four manifest types that generate most variance, and apply the yellow/orange/red escalation thresholds that separate operators who pass state inspections from the ones who get a summary suspension.30 min
Part 03
4 lessons • 108 minLab and Labeling
- 09Reading a COA Like a Lab ScientistHow to read a COA with the rigor of a lab scientist, including potency math, pesticide red flags, and the handful of common COA tricks vendors use to obscure quality issues.21 min
- 10Testing Standards, Failure Remediation, and Retest RulesHow to read a failed panel, pick between retest, remediate, re-extract, and destroy, and run the resulting workflow without breaking chain of custody, state labeling rules, or the economics of the batch.33 min
- 11Labeling Compliance by State and Common MistakesHow to read a cannabis label with the rigor of a state inspector, from universal fields and symbols through state-specific overlays to the handful of recurring mistakes that drive recalls, fines, and license holds.26 min
- 12Recalls: Triggers, Procedures, Communication, InsuranceHow to run a recall from notice to closure: the 8-step lifecycle, the Metrc admin-recall flag, the five-channel customer notification model, the state clocks, and the cost allocation that separates a clean response from a licensure event.28 min
Part 04
3 lessons • 76 minFloor Compliance
- 13ID Verification Deep Dive: Tampering Detection, Age Math, Refusal ScriptsHow to run the six-point ID scan with the speed of a veteran and the rigor of a compliance officer, including the five fake-ID patterns worth memorizing, borderline age math, the DOB quiz, and refusal scripts that protect the license without melting the customer experience.26 min
- 14Purchase Limits: State-by-State and the Math at CheckoutHow adult-use and medical purchase limits actually work across the big markets, the equivalency math that converts concentrate and edibles back to flower ounces, and the exact moves a trained budtender makes when the POS flags, when a regular pushes, and when a medical patient forgets the card.21 min
- 15Marketing Compliance: Claims, Channels, Minor AudiencesThe working model for cannabis marketing compliance in 2026: the three-layer stack (state, platform, FTC), the universal creative rules that kill most brand ideas before they launch, the audience-composition math behind paid and organic reach, and the disclosure practices that keep an influencer program out of an FTC warning letter.29 min
Part 05
3 lessons • 85 minPhysical Compliance
- 16Security Requirements: Cameras, Alarms, Retention, Access ControlHow to build and run a four-ring physical security program that survives a regulator inspection and an actual incident: camera coverage and retention math, vault and alarm baselines, named-individual access control, and the receiving-dock and export-evidence disciplines that make the rest of it audit-ready.26 min
- 17Cash Handling: The Controls That Also Pass AuditHow to design and run a dispensary cash operation so the same controls that prevent shrink also satisfy a regulator audit, a CPA, and an insurer; covers cash-room design, dual-custody counts, the variance-band escalation matrix, and the armored-car vetting questions that distinguish cannabis-serious carriers from general retail.28 min
- 18Waste Management: The Compliant Destruction PlaybookHow to render cannabis waste unusable, log destruction in Metrc with defensible reason codes, and survive a state audit on the documentation trail rather than the material itself. Medical cannabis operators may now deduct ordinary business expenses related to destruction; recreational operators remain subject to IRC Section 280E.31 min
Part 06
2 lessons • 61 minDelivery and Ecommerce
- 19Delivery Regulations: State-by-State Operator ManualHow to read a delivery program through the regulatory lens that actually controls it: license model, vehicle and driver rules, manifest and tracking integration, residential and hours restrictions, and the municipal opt-in layer that quietly determines half of all delivery feasibility.31 min
- 20Ecommerce and Age Verification ComplianceHow to build and operate a compliant cannabis ecommerce stack: session-persistent age gates, ID verification at handoff, platform-specific compliance gaps across Dutchie, Treez, Jane, and Weedmaps, payment processor constraints, and the order-flow audit trail that survives a state regulator inspection. As of April 2026, state-licensed medical cannabis operators may deduct ordinary business expenses going forward under IRC Section 280E, while adult-use and recreational cannabis remains non-deductible.30 min
Part 07
4 lessons • 100 minAudit Survival
- 21The State Audit: What Inspectors Actually CheckWhat a state cannabis inspector actually opens first when they walk in the door, the seven artifact stacks every dispensary should keep audit-ready, and the 60-day pre-audit runbook that separates clean inspections from the ones that end with a Notice of Violation.27 min
- 22Corrective Action Plans That Actually Resolve FindingsHow to turn an audit finding into a corrective action plan that closes the loop with the regulator, fixes the root cause, and survives a follow-up visit; including the structure of a defensible CAP, the difference between a patch and a fix, and the receipts a state inspector expects to see when they come back.27 min
- 23SOP Documentation: The Baseline Document Set Every Store Should HaveHow to build, version, and maintain the 25 to 30 SOPs that every cannabis dispensary needs to operate legally and pass audits, including the launch-phase split, the SOP lifecycle, and the document hygiene that separates a clean audit from a citation.29 min
- 24Training Records and the Paper Trail That Saves YouHow to build a training-records system that survives an unannounced state audit: which documents the regulator actually asks for, the per-state agent-license and RVT regimes, what the federal I-9 layer demands on top, and the retention discipline that turns invisible paperwork into license insurance.17 min
Part 08
2 lessons • 61 minPractice and Capstone
- 25The Compliance Manager's Weekly/Monthly/Quarterly RhythmHow to run a sustainable compliance cadence: daily Metrc and incident checks, weekly variance and certification audits, monthly mock inspections and SOP reviews, quarterly SOP refresh cycles, and the annual license-renewal arc, built so a single compliance manager catches patterns before patterns become license events.24 min
- 26Capstone: Running a Mock AuditA two-week mock audit playbook a compliance manager can run in their own store next week, including the 14-day prep plan, day-of inspection script, sample finding and corrective action template, and a post-audit debrief that converts findings into license-protecting habits.37 min
Ready when you are
Compliance Mastery starts with one lesson.
U.S. Cannabis Legality: Federal vs State, Sealed-State System, Path to Rescheduling, 26 minutes. Pick it up here whenever you have time.
Start lesson 1