legal Marijuana Jobs
In 1937, Harry Anslinger’s racist, immoral, non-factual, and misleading campaign for the criminalization of cannabis in the United States came to a head, with the Federal Narcotics Bureau, the agency Anslinger was tasked with operating, managing to outlaw the drug across the nation.
Although Anslinger’s efforts got him what he wanted, cannabis use never really fell. People still continued to use, cultivate, and distribute the drug, though countless dollars, years in jail, hours of community service, and other punishments were rendered to people associated with cannabis.
In some states, citizens can vote on certain initiatives or referendums in direct fashion, as opposed to voting for representatives who vote for the thousands of people they represent.
In 1996, California proposed an initiative whereby cannabis could be made legal for medical use within the Golden State’s borders. The infamous Proposition 215, also known as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, was enacted into law by a vote of 5.38 million in favor of the initiative and 4.3 million against it.
Although other states were slow to follow in California’s footsteps, other states slowly began offering their nurses and employees similar initiatives and referendums to vote on regarding legalizing medical-use cannabis. Today, over half of all states in the union have medical-use cannabis programs of their own. Roughly 20 percent of states have also approved recreational-use cannabis.
One of the most widely-favored benefits of cannabis legalization is the creation of legitimate jobs. The more jobs there are in an economy, the stronger it is, which generally is better for life in those economies.
Let’s examine some of the hottest jobs in states that have legalized cannabis for medical use, recreational use, or both.
1. Lead Growers
Although you won’t be able to just waltz into any head grower position, people who have at least several years’ experience cultivating cannabis at the highest level are generally considered for such jobs.
Lead growers don’t just exclusively grow cannabis. Rather, they’re required to manage growing assistants and maintenance workers to keep growing operations running in full-force. They are also responsible for making sure employees do what they’re supposed to, as well as training new hires and monitoring all employees’ progress.
2. Trimmers
First off, understand that the cannabis industry widely considers trimmers and low-level cultivation site workers to be one and the same, though the two terms aren’t entirely synonymous with one another.
Trimming cannabis can be a grueling job because it requires constant use of the hands, wrists, and forearms. These workers are usually also responsible for keeping grow sites sanitary, maintaining growing equipment, and properly storing cannabis at different stages of the processing and harvesting steps.
3. Dispensary Managers
Dispensary managers are essentially retail store managers that have familiarity with cannabis and cannabis derivatives. When it comes to the cannabis industry, it’s crucial that people being considered for the job of dispensary manager have a thorough understanding of the different kinds of cannabis, various preparations of cannabis, and their general effects on users.
4. Lab Technicians
People working as lab technicians will be responsible for testing the cannabinoid and toxin profiles of raw cannabis flower and concentrates. The bulk of lab technicians’ time is spent preparing concentrates and extracts from raw cannabis.
Such work is left up to careful, steady lab technicians for two reasons – concentrates and extracts can sometimes be dangerous to make and finished yields are often worth in the tens of thousands of dollars. Lab technicians in the cannabis industry also must make sure they adhere to all relevant state laws and regulations.
5. Mid-Level Growing Supervisors
These positions are usually only utilized by large companies in the cannabis industry. They work under head growers, who might be tasked with overseeing various operations in different locations. Since head growers’ time is so valuable, it makes sense to hire mid-level growing supervisors.
6. Drivers
In the cannabis industry, careers for drivers usually either haul cannabis over long distances using traditional 18-wheeler commercial transport vehicles or deliver retail-approved, relatively small amounts of cannabis to customers. Further, drivers also transport cannabis between stores within multi-location companies.
Drivers are also responsible for keeping close logs on their trips to operate in accordance with state laws.
7. Budtenders
Budtenders are the cannabis industry equivalent of bartenders. Even though budtenders’ positions can be filled by hiring low- or no-experience young people who have no experience in cannabis, most cannabis dispensaries tend to hire people who are already well-versed in using cannabis.
Applicants who are able to prove their extensive knowledge of cannabis to cannabis nursing hiring managers could find themselves earning substantially more money than entry-level jobs in most other fields.