Over the past two decades or so, it’s fair to say that cannabis has gone mainstream. What used to be a black market illegal industry fueled by back alley deals and sketchy burnouts growing a few poorly grown cannabis plants under some low-quality grow lights in their broom closet has evolved into a thriving multi-billion dollar cash cow that’s fully legal for ⅓ of all Americans and approved of by ⅔.

Plain and simply put, Americans absolutely love their legal weed. That love for legal cannabis is likely a key reason why more than 5 million folks all over the country have gotten medical cannabis cards of their own across 37 states that have approved and created medical cannabis programs of their own!

After all, thanks to folks like us here at FadeMD, it’s literally never been easier to go ahead and get a medical cannabis card of your own. In just a few short minutes, we’ll do the vast majority of the heavy lifting for you. We’ll connect you with a certified, expert medical cannabis doctor or cannabis industry professional in your state via telemedicine channels, allowing you to skip the long waiting lists for appointments and keeping you safe and sound from the comfort of your own home!

To get a medical card of your own and get access to top-notch medical cannabis products to properly treat your various qualifying conditions and symptoms without the need for often harsh, addictive, and artificial Big Pharma solutions, click here!

But getting a card of your own is just the first step! From there, it’s only natural to wonder about the next steps. After all, you might be a newcomer to the legal cannabis industry with absolutely no idea what’s what. While the basics might be pretty obvious, you can only get your medicine from specific medical dispensaries throughout your particular state, figuring out things like what types of products you can get, the effects they might have, or which ones might be best for you and your condition. That’s where budtenders come in!

In this piece, we’re going to lay out exactly who and what a budtender is, their role in how and why your local medical dispensary works the way it does, and how to use them as resources to get the absolute best possible results from your medicine! So with that in mind, let’s get right into it! 

The Basics of Budtending

So what exactly is budtending? Well, in short, a budtender is the frontward, customer-facing front-line resource for medical cannabis patients. When you walk into a medical dispensary to get some product of your own, you won’t be able to leave without interacting with one.

Most days, the average budtender’s duties include answering customer questions and interacting with them at the point of sale, packing and weighting the products themselves to make sure customers have exactly what they need, and, of course, answering customer questions and guiding them in the right direction! 

But at their core, budtenders are far more than just the medical dispensary cashiers who ring up your order, staple your bag of product closed, and take your payment for whatever products you’re picking up.

If you’re smart, budtenders can be resources for learning more about the medical cannabis products you’re considering, helping you sort the signal from the noise when it comes to which products are best for the issues you’re looking to treat, and better understanding your products to get the most possible bang for your bucks. 

Aside from their basic duties, however, asking budtenders the right questions can help you get the most from your medicine from the local dispensary. Let’s break down some of those questions now!

How to Interact with Your Budtender

Unlike the folks handling your checkout at the grocery store or your favorite restaurant, a budtender plays a different role for medical cannabis patients. Budtenders get hands-on with the products the dispensary sells on the daily, allowing them to understand the products better than your average cashier or retail store worker. In a lot of states, the budtenders in the medical dispensaries are required to be medical patients themselves!

Due to that unique relationship with the products they’re selling combined with the expert training their workplace provides them, budtenders are vast sources of valuable information for medical patients. You just need to know what questions to ask!

Let’s go over a few of the best questions to ask your budtender at the dispensary if you’re looking to get the best out of your interactions with these well-trained medical cannabis experts!

Question 1: What Do You Recommend for Beginners?

While some readers might be seasoned cannabis aficionados themselves, in an industry that’s as valuable and fast-growing as the legal cannabis industry, there are bound to be some newbies who don’t know a thing about the various medical products available at their local dispensary. For those folks, a budtender should be their best friend.

Dosing and figuring out which product is right for you can be challenging and a budtender can help conquer those issues with recommendations based on your condition, needs, tolerance, and experience level with cannabis products overall!

Question 2: How Do I Use This Product?

While what to do with and how to use cannabis flower might be straightforward, the legal industry has come a long way since the days when joints, blunts, and bong hits were the only consumption methods.

With that in mind, a budtender can help you figure out what’s best in terms of use and dosage. Take edibles, for example. We likely all know someone or at least have heard stories about impatient folks taking too much too soon and having a bad time as a result. By checking in with your budtender on the strength and dosage of the stuff you’re buying, you’ll be able to stay safe and get the most of the products you’re spending your hard earned money on!

Question 3: What Do You Recommend?

Remember, budtenders aren’t just the folks behind the counter handing the cash and ringing up orders. Not only do they get hands-on with these products every day, but they’re likely medical patients themselves! With that in mind, they have a more cultured and first-hand perspective on the products they’ll recommend.

Not only are they experts in the way the cannabinoids, terpenes, and products will interact with you and your condition, but they’ve likely used it themselves and gotten a feel for what’s what. 

Treating your budtender like resources and asking their opinions will go a long way to helping your sort out which products are best for you and the symptoms you’re trying to treat!

Disclaimer: The information, including but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material contained in this article is for informational purposes only. No material from this article is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment before undertaking a new health care regimen. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.