Marijuana Industry Careers

 

With the legalization of Cannabis in Canada, and in a few other States like Colorado, USA, Marijuana industry careers are going to be the choice of many. It’s estimated in Canada alone, that $1.6 Billion worth of legal Marijuana was sold in 2018. That necessitates a large and growing work force in the Marijuana industry.

Ironically according to Vice online magazine, Canadians spent $5.7 Billion on mostly illegal marijuana in 2017. Jobs are available in the black market sector as well, but are obviously obtained in a stealth mode. Always one eye out for the cops.

What kinds of jobs are available? 

A website called Indeed, has the following positions in the Marijuana industry

• Master Growers
• Budtenders
• Trimmers
• Section Growers
• Grow Associates
• Cultivators
• Formulation Technicians
• Quality Assurance Associates
• Packaging
• Facilities/Maintenance Technicians
• Patient Educators (Medical Cannabis)
• Shippers and Receivers
• Executive Assistants

 

Of these top jobs, Master Growers and Budtenders require the most training, and therefore higher salaries.

Since the Cannabis industry is still so new, employers are scrambling to find a standard for the industry. One such area is in the job titles and descriptions.  I noticed when searching out various position for cannabis related jobs, that many different job titles seemed to over lap.

For instance, Cultivators, Section growers, Trimmers were often doing similiar jobs, like trimming, weeding, watering etc. Different companies had differing duties asigned to these job titles.

When looking for a job in the cannabis industry, Indeed, is a great place to start. I noticed that many job positions required 2 years experience in horticulture in general. Basically if you haven’t been a gardener anywhere, it counts against you.

Another way is to sign on with a University or College that has classes in cannabis horticulture. While this sounds appealing to many, don’t get your hopes up too high. The enrollments are very small. 6 weeks before Cannabis was set to become legal here in Canada, Niagara College in Ontario, Canada began a post graduate diploma program dubbed ‘Pot School’.  300 people applied for a limited 24 openings.

With over 100 producers to begin with in Canada, these students are virtually guaranteed jobs after graduation.

The following Canadian Colleges and Universities offer courses in Cannabis

• Durham College Ontario (Oshawa, Ontario)
• NACPT Pharmacy college, (Toronto, Ontario)
• Loyalist College (Belleville, Ontario)
• St. Francis Xavier University (Antigonish, Nova Scotia)
• Community College of New Brunswick (various locations in New Brunswick)
• The College of the Rockies (Cranbrook, British Columbia)
• Kwantlen Polytechnic University or KPU (Vancouver, British Columbia)
• Okanagon College (Kelowna, British Columbia)
• Olds College (Calgary, Alberta)
• Mount Royal University (Calgary, Alberta)
• McGill University (Montreal, Quebec)

 

 

In the United States the following Universities and Colleges offer education for the Cannabis industry.

• University of Washington (Seattle, Washington)
• Seattle Central College (Seattle, Washington)
• University of California (Davis, California)
• Oaksterdam University (Oakland, California)
• University of Vermont (Burlington, Vermont)
• Stockton University (Galloway, New Jersey)
• University of Denver (Denver, Colorado)
• Clover Leaf University (Denver, Colorado)
• Northern Michigan University (Marquette, Michigan)

 

 

I went further into my research to look for cannabis training in the UK . Here is what I found.

Tony Dagostino Consultancy (London, UK) has a cannabis training course

Fanshawe College (London, UK) has a medicinal cannabis course

It was difficult to find training courses in the UK, as it’s barely legal as a medicinal plant. I hope with Canada leading the way, the UK will reconsider their strict policies regarding cannabis.  Sometimes it just takes one country to start the ball rolling. Canada is the first in the G7 Nations and the first in the CommonWealth.  Uruguay was the first of All countries in the World to legalize All drugs.

The most educated position generally seems to be the position known as Master Grower

Generally a Master grower has a Bachelor degree in Horticulture, but in the Cannabis industry this is not necessarily the case. Until legalization in Canada and some US states, Master Growers were people growing marijuana in the ‘underground’ industry. These growers became very knowledgeable and experienced in the craft of growing and harvesting cannabis. Many ‘black market’ Master Growers are now in the legitimate marijuana growing industry.

A Cannabis Master Grower is one who knows every single aspect of breeding, growing and harvesting marijuana. These job positions are given to those with years of experience with or without a degree. If you are interested in becoming a Master Grower, you will have to start closer to the bottom, as a cultivator or trimmer to learn how to handle cannabis. You will have to take Master Grower training, from either a university/college course or two, or an online training course. There are not a lot of on line courses yet, but there are a few good ones that you can take now.

This particular company GreenCulturEd, provides training to businesses in the cannabis industry. The entire staff of any given business can take the courses together, or the Employer can choose just a few staff members to partake of the courses.

 

At this present time, Marijuana industry careers, consist of many over lapping positions but Master growers are in short supply. The Canadian market for producing cannabis is desperately short on both enough cannabis and experienced knowledgeable employees.

Warm regards