MJNews Network

"The Voice of Legal Cannabis Since 2013"

You are here: Home / Archives for marijuana jobs

Recently Pardoned? Lowell Herb Co. Is Hiring

by Leave a Comment

CALIFORNIA: Lowell Herb Co., the fast growing cannabis company behind the number one pre-roll in California, is expanding and hiring. Through its trailblazing Social Equity and Reparative Justice Program, special consideration will be given to recently pardoned, non-violent cannabis offenders and will offer a wide spectrum of resources to individuals hoping to enter the cannabis space at various levels. CEO David Elias describes the ideal candidate as a motivated team member who will contribute to the day-to-day operations of the company in a dynamic way, adding that “We value hard work and dedication and we’re putting a strong emphasis on employing people negatively impacted by cannabis incarceration and those whose lives have been affected by cannabis convictions on their records.”

To get the word out to a wider audience, Lowell unveiled a billboard near the Men’s Central Jail and Twin Tower Correctional Facility (the sign is located on Daly St. north of Mission Road facing the 5 South Fwy.) announcing the jobs initiative and will be actively promoting the project on TV, radio, and online venues.

herbco employees

Lowell has career opportunities across various fields and levels of expertise such as package design, sales, marketing, distribution, shipping and customer service. Most of the jobs will be in Los Angeles, but there are also openings in the Bay Area, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and San Diego.

In addition, Lowell and its coalition of brand and retail partners, will offer internship roles in each division of its operations. This structured approach to on-the-job training industry education and specialized career focus, will help propel interns to the next level when they enter the workforce.

Beginning later this year, Lowell will host a series of meet-up style workshops which will be open to the public and will offer panel discussions and intensive training sessions as a crash course introduction to participants hoping to obtain roles in the industry. “It’s our priority to establish programs such as these to give motivated, bright individuals a second chance, and allow them to participate in this thriving industry” said Elias.

Report: Legal Cannabis Industry Responsible For 150,000 Full Time Jobs

by Leave a Comment

WASHINGTON: The legal cannabis industry is responsible for the creation of an estimated 150,000 full-time jobs, according to state-by-state datacompiled by the online content provider Leafly.com.

Their analysis identified 149,304 full-time jobs supported by the legal marijuana industry. Not all of the jobs included in the tally involved direct contact with the plant, as ancillary businesses like consultants and hydroponics providers were also included.

The total represents a 22 percent increase in the number of full-time cannabis-related jobs created within the past 12 months.

States reporting the largest number of cannabis-related jobs were California (47,711) Colorado (26,891), and Washington (26,556).

Medical Marijuana And Its Impact To The Economy

by Leave a Comment

By Zack M

Twenty five states have legalized marijuana for medical use so far, and it’s already clear that there are many economical advantages to be gained from this as well as the various medical marijuana benefits to be enjoyed by patients.  Because the marijuana systems in place in these states are being well regulated and taxed, money is coming in steadily from the cannabis industry.  These are just some of the ways that cannabis legalization can assist weakening economies.

Medical Marijuana Eliminates The Need For Tax Hikes

With some estimates putting illicit cannabis sales at around $50 billion in revenue a year, it doesn’t make any sense to allow that money to go to gangs and criminals.  Prohibition states are missing out on large incomes by choosing not to regulate and tax the industry.  New tax income from the legal sales of marijuana reinvigorate the economy of the state, and decrease the need for additional taxes on other products income.

Marijuana Regulation Creates Jobs

Whenever people earn money via legal and regulated means, they pay taxes and put money back into the state economy.  Legal cannabis states have seen real job creation.  Instead of allowing those jobs to be held by non-taxpaying criminals, marijuana further benefits the state.  Many marijuana industry jobs are highly skilled and pay excellent wages. Demand is expected to remain strong for trained horticulturists, laboratory testers, dispensary workers and team managers.

According to AlterNet, the top cannabis industry jobs are:

  • Budtenders – assist dispensary customers with purchasing marijuana
  • Sales Reps – sell products (vapes, technology, edibles, etc.) to dispensaries
  • Extraction Technicians – make marijuana concentrates
  • Edibles Makers – make marijuana-infused foods and drinks
  • Dispensary Security – patrol dispensaries for illegal activity
  • Marijuana Growers – cultivate marijuana for dispensaries
  • Trimmers – trim and package marijuana flowers for dispensaries
  • Dispensary Managers – manage all or various aspects of dispensaries

Legalization Lowers Government Spending 

Prohibition is expensive and wasteful.  Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron estimates the government War on Marijuana costs Americans more than $20 billion annually.  The costs include law enforcement, the strain on the courts and justice system, and the enormous cost of housing and feeding low-level drug offenders.

Monies that could be used to address pressing social needs — education, infrastructure, crime — are wasted on a failed public policy.  By all accounts the War on Drugs has been a dismal failure.

Goldstein: Legalized Marijuana Benefits, Not Hurts, Society

by Leave a Comment

CALIFORNIA:  Marijuana legalization will be on the ballot in California for 2016, an effort that 55 percent of Californians now support. As a retired police officer, I spent a career fighting the war on marijuana and other drugs, which largely felt like the most expensive whack-a-mole game ever created.

No matter how many drug users or dealers we arrested, there were ten more to take their place. It’s the failure of drug prohibition that continues to make marijuana and other drugs easily available to our children. No different than when I was in high school — marijuana is still widely available despite over forty years of attempting to eradicate its use in the United States.

In the states that have taken the illicit marijuana market away from criminal organizations, even law enforcement has noted that there have been minimal issues with legalization. According to the Colorado State Police, “…officers’ jobs are also not more dangerous or more challenging since marijuana’s statewide legalization.”

MJBA’s Cannabis Job Fair Brings Together Top Employers and Job Seekers

by 4 Comments

WASHINGTON: The legal cannabis industry in Washington is poised to scale in 2015, as more licensed retail stores come online and relatively low price points drive consumer demand.  According to the latest MJ Research report, Washington’s cannabis industry has surpassed $100M in sales in its first 33 weeks of legal sales, and that is in turn creating jobs.In response, many canna-businesses are getting into hiring mode.

The legalization of marijuana has created thousands of new jobs — 10,000 in Colorado last year.  This year that trend will only continue, as more stores open and more product becomes available.

This weekend in Seattle, the MJBA Job Fair will become ground zero for those interested in a career in legal cannabis — bringing together Washington State’s top cannabis industry employers and HR professionals and industry thought leaders with local job seekers.

MJBA Job Fair March 3, 2015 at Red Lion Hotel Bellevue WA

MJBA Job Fair March 3, 2015 at Red Lion Hotel Bellevue WA

The full day event includes a 2015 Jobs Outlook, and featured employer presentations from Producers, Retailers, Processors and service providers. Author and motivational speaker Tiffany McVeety will speak on “Being Your Own Boss” and CTI’s Greta Carter will talk about the importance of training and certification.

Job candidates will have the opportunity to take the stage and deliver their 60-second elevator pitch.Last fall’s MJBA Job Fair garnered tremendous publicity, and attracted approximately 500 people, according to organizers. More than 30+ employers turned out as sponsors seeking to fill more than 140 jobs. This year’s event, is being sponsored by RMMC Consulting, Eden Labs, Cannabis Training Institute, Viridian Sciences, 420MEDIA, and Weedhire.com, and looks to be even larger.

Here are some highlights of the media coverage of Job Fair Seattle last fall:

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2014/09/29/washingtons-top-pot-companies-recruit-at-seattle-job-fair/

http://www.bellevuereporter.com/business/277490131.html

http://viridiansciences.com/first-pot-job-fair/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuBKheGPvcE

A Year After Marijuana Legalization In Colorado, ‘Everything’s Fine’ Confirm Police

by 1 Comment

COLORADO:  It’s been a year since Colorado became the first state in the US to legalize marijuana, and its impact on health, crime, employment and other factors can now be more empirically measured.

So, did it bring about an apocalypse leaving the streets strewn with out-of-work addicts as some Republicans feared?

“We found there hasn’t been much of a change of anything,” a Denver police officer told CBC this week.

“Basically, officers aren’t seeing much of a change in how they do police work.”

Q&A With WeedHire CEO David Bernstein

by Leave a Comment

This week popular cannabis industry job board WeedHire.com released it’s Q4 2014 Jobs Report indicating the legalization of marijuana is creating new jobs and inspiring new economic activity. According to the report approximately 10,000 jobs in marijuana already exist in Colorado, and tousands more will be coming in the follow-on states of Washington, Oregon, & Alaska.

While unemployment has dropped dramatically in cities with legal cannabis (according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the city of Denver’s unemployment rate was 4.2% through November 2014, down from 6.5% a year ago ), there remain real challenges to the sustainability of this growth.and these statistics demonstrate the industry is still very early in development. The lack of banking support as well as the delays in issuance of licenses and approvals at the state level is likely to also play a role in how fast these organizations can grow.

It is important to note however that industry analysts believe that approximately 10,000 jobs in marijuana already exist in Colorado. Thousands more will be coming in the follow-on states of Washington, Oregon, & Alaska.

MJ News Network had the opportunity to talk to WeedHire CEO David Bernstein about his Q4 Jobs Report, and his predictions for 2015.

Q: How does the cannabis industry jobs report compare to the nation at large?

A: The report extracts data from the website that users post nationwide, and globally.  Due to the vertical nature of the site, it’s about as definitive as you can get about the industry job trends

Q: What jobs within the cannabis industry are growing fastest?

A: 1) Dispensary Jobs, with 90% Growth
, 2) Medical Jobs –  with 70% Growth, 
3) Administrative Jobs – with 65% Growth, 
4) Sales Jobs – with 56% growth.

Q: What jobs will be in the highest demand for 2015?

Top 6 Jobs Functions Most in Demand  
1)  Administrative
,  2 ) Sales
, 3) Dispensaries
, 4) Medical
 5) Marketing, and
 6) Manufacturing/Grow/Edibles/Testing

“WeedHire is fortunate to have a unique seat at the table as legal marijuana evolves,” Bernstein told MJNN. “From our view, we can understand the needs/issues that business owners are working to address from a staffing perspective.  This also provides clarity as to the stages of development for the overall industry and each respective state as well.  For Job seekers we can see the interest levels and the rate of commitment to enter legal marijuana as a legitimate industry.  Weedhire will continue to share this information on an ongoing basis with the general public.”

WeedHire’s Third Quarter 2014 Cannabis Jobs Report Shows Increasing Demand In Government Positions

by 2 Comments

NEW JERSEY:  The findings of the Third Quarter 2014 Cannabis Jobs Report show significant demand by state governments looking to fill regulatory and other positions, including senior level positions with the Minnesota Department of Health. Annual pay for the positions typically ranges from $60,000 to $105,000.

“With marijuana now legal in 23 states, the green rush has created a huge demand for experienced professionals who can build and operate the apparatus required for regulating and overseeing what is essentially a brand new industry,” said WeedHire CEO David Bernstein. “State governments need to make sure they are equipped to handle what many project to be an explosive growth industry, potentially reaching as much as $10 billion by 2019.”

“A look at the positions available in many of these states show they are taking the issue very seriously,” Mr. Bernstein said.

Sales and Administrative positions continue to see rapid growth and account for 63.3% of the postings on WeedHire through the end of the third quarter of 2014. Dispensaries (24.7 %), Marketing (16.2 %), Website/Online (12.6%), and positions in Doctor’s offices (11.2%) round out the top five job categories.

 

Washington’s Top Pot Companies Recruit At Seattle Job Fair

by Leave a Comment

WASHINGTON: Washington’s legal marijuana market is heating up. In the first two months of operation, the Evergreen State has generated more than 14 million in recreational marijuana sales, which resulted in more than $3 million in new tax revenues — all that with only a handful of legal pot shops open. Every week the Washington Liquor Control Board issues more recreational licenses for legal growers, producers and processors of pot, and as that production ramps up so does the demand for a wide range of professional services.

The Green Rush is on — cannabis employers are now focusing on hiring and so the Marijuana Business Association hosted a Job Fair to put would-be workers in weed together with new high-paying jobs.

The MJBA Job Fair happened Saturday at the Red Lion Hotel in Bellevue, WA, and was presented by online job board Weedhire.com, and sponsored by a host of leading canna-employers. AOL Jobs talked to some of them to find out what kind of jobs are being created in this new legal industry, and what kinds of experience and training will best prepare job seekers for an exciting new career in the cannabis trade.


Marco Hoffman,
President, Evergreen Herbal

Marco Hoffman is a successful entrepreneur out of California where he co-founded the Venice Cookie Company. He is modeling his smaller Washington operation after best practices learned at VCC. Evergreen Herbal has quickly established itself, and its 4.20 and infused-Quencher lines – at the top of Washington’s most successful medibles category.

MJBA Job Fair 231A.C. Braddock
CEO, Eden Labs

Eden Labs is a leading manufacturer of extraction technology, the innovator of the Hi-Flo Co2 system, the “Coldfinger” distillation systems and a multitude of protocols for the processing of botanicals. The company, which has deep roots in the food, tobacco and coffee industries, has grown quickly in response to the tremendous growth of the cannabis concentrates market. A.C. is a founding member of Women of Weed, Marijuana Business Association, NCIA and the MJBA Women’s Alliance.

Eden Labs does not micro-manage” A.C. tells AOL Jobs. “Employees must be able to work unsupervised, and will be expected to be responsible in achieving designated deadlines and improving the job role as needed.” Like many in the dynamic new industry, Braddock emphasizes the importance of being a team player with excellent communication skills.

First Legal Spokane Marijuana Customer Struggles To Find Job

by Leave a Comment

WASHINGTON:  The man who lost his job after bragging on KREM 2 News about being the first person to legally buy marijuana said Monday he hoped to prove that not all marijuana users are bad employees.

Boyer said, referring to the fact that he was the first person to ever legally purchase marijuana in Spokane.

Boyer claimed he was fired from both his full-time employers after giving an interview to KREM 2 News. He added that he later got one of the positions back, but said he has not worked any hours since.

“I can’t get a job. Everywhere I go, the employer goes ‘you’re the weed guy. We saw you on the news.'”