The Canadian Federation of Independent Business says businesses need to be better educated on cannabis legislation.

One year after cannabis was legalized in Canada, CFIB did a survey with employers where six in 10 businesses ranked the provincial government’s efforts to educate them on the rules and regulations as poor or very poor.

CFIB’s Marilyn Braun-Pollon said the province needs to better educate the public on some of the potential safety issues from legalization, especially with 34 per cent of businesses not having a drug or alcohol policy in place.

“We know that many small businesses don’t have HR departments or legal experts on staff, so they need help and resources,” explained Braun-Pollon. “Too often their needs are treated as an after thought when governments rush into new legislation.”

She believes this legislation posed major new challenges for employers. The organization warned the province that education efforts were severely lacking.

Braun-Pollon feels it’s more important to provide education on these topics now with edibles being legal.

“A quarter of businesses list their provincial government as their primary source of information, about 32 per cent list CFIB as their primary source of information, but actually almost half didn’t have a primary source of information.”

She added that 59 per cent of those who had a primary source of information felt more equipped to deal with cannabis in the workplace.

CFIB has put out policy templates and education on this matter for free on their website.