Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
Some wear their hair in messy buns and have sleeve tattoos. Some have salon cuts and $2,000 suits.
Some are joining blue-collar unions, getting health benefits as they grow and sell a plant they've long loved. Some say they never touch it, but they're standing guard outside shops and fiercely lobbying legislators in Sacramento to ensure that others can.
As public support and legalization of cannabis spreads, those who've quietly worked in California's medical marijuana industry are slowly emerging from the shadows. And professionals who never would have considered joining the industry a couple of years ago are leaving behind traditional careers in law, real estate and finance as they flock to what they see as the next big boom.
"The fastest-growing industry in America is marijuana, period," said Jake Bhattacharya, who recently quit his information technology job to open a cannabis testing lab in Upland.
With medical marijuana legal in 25 states and recreational use allowed in four, pot outsold Girl Scout Cookies in 2015, according to a report from Marijuana Business Daily, a 5-year-old news website covering the industry.
Pot retail sales are expected to hit $4 billion this year, and Marijuana Business Daily is projecting that number could nearly triple by 2020.
The actual size of the industry may already be much larger, too, as California hasn't tracked its massive medical marijuana market in the 20 years since it's been legal. And it could skyrocket if voters here and in a handful of other states approve recreational use Nov. 8.
The lack of reliable data coupled with the "niche" aspect of the industry is why cannabis isn't included in mainstream economic and jobs reports, according to Christopher Thornberg, director of the Center for Economic Forecasting and Development at UC Riverside.
"It's still too fly-by-night," Thornberg said.
California's Employment Development Department doesn't track the diverse daisy chain of cannabis jobs. And several recruitment firms said they don't deal with the industry.
Job seekers and employers instead turn to Craigslist or specialized sites. A recent post on WeedHire.com was for a $75,000-a-year account manager at GFarmaLabs, which makes marijuana products in Anaheim, and one on 420careers.com for growers and trimmers at Buds & Roses dispensary in Los Angeles.
Working in the industry isn't without complications.
It remains illegal at the federal level, which limits access to financial services and causes lingering concerns over raids by federal authorities.
California's market is emerging from two decades of nearly nonexistent regulation and intense battles with local governments who were less than welcoming to "potrepreneurs." That legacy means newly licensed shops often still rely on growers and manufacturers in the gray market, and they struggle to survive alongside unlicensed operators who aren't paying the same hefty taxes.
Then there's the glaring disapproval that comes from shrinking (per the polls) but vocal pockets of the public. Fear of backlash from conservative family members or future business associates kept several cannabis workers from speaking on the record for this story.
"Let's face it, of course there is a stigma," said Juliet Murphy, a career coach who runs Juliet Murphy Career Development in Tustin.
Murphy expects it would raise eyebrows for more traditional employers to see a weed industry job on someone's resume. However, she sees it as less of an issue going forward as the industry becomes more mainstream and as millennials transform the workforce.
"There are still a lot of kinks that are being worked out. But I think this presents an opportunity for a lot of jobs, provided that people do it right," Murphy said. "I think in the next five to 10 years, it's going to be huge."
Eddie Funxta, a geneticist/breeder who lives in Banning, said the growth boom around the corner could be particularly huge for Inland Southern California. He said the industry has the potential to create good jobs in a two-county region that has lower incomes and has recovered more slowly from recession than coastal communities.
Funxta suggested it could even refresh San Bernardino's not-so-flattering image.
"The county already has a reputation for murder," he said. "Why not have a reputation as savior?"
Funxta has been working to develop useful strains of cannabis for years. He speaks passionately about its potential to ease the pain and discomfort of people suffering from cancer, AIDS and other debilitating ailments.
"It's our God-given right as human beings on this planet to be compassionate towards other people," he said.
Here are stories from a diverse group of locals willing to speak publicly — some for the first time — about what it's like to work in Southern California's legal marijuana industry.
EQUIPMENT SUPPLIER
Meet Andrew Yoon, a 24-year-old Corona man who moved to the area from St. Louis a few years ago.
"I grew up going to church," Yoon said. "I thought weed was so bad until I was 18, 19."
Then he tried marijuana recreationally, and persuaded his mother to use it medicinally to aid her successful battle against ovarian cancer.
"It helped her with the nausea, with sleeping," Yoon said.
A believer in marijuana's usefulness as a medicinal tool and convinced the industry has a bright future, Yoon started up an extraction-equipment supply business in January.
"It looks like a lab," Yoon said, in an interview Friday at his Xtractor Depot shop in San Bernardino.
There are chemistry-like glass tubes and spinning machines, and rows of stainless steel solvent tanks.
Yoon said some customers purchase complete systems for extracting active ingredients of cannabis, which are made into liquid tinctures, lotions, salves and edibles.
"Some people just need parts," he said. "They'll come in here and buy just one metal fitting."
He started with a two-person staff. Five months later, he operates with five employees recruited from the circle of friends he met in college. Since January, he said, Xtractor Depot has netted $1 million in sales.
Yoon, a clean-shaven man who still looks like a college kid, is making plans to expand. He intends to open a large distribution warehouse in Los Angeles and convert the San Bernardino "lab" into a "teaching facility" for people wanting to see how the extraction process works.
Yoon had no qualms about venturing into the business despite its stigma.
"I saw that it was booming, that it was growing," he said.
LAB TECHNICIAN
Before he opened a testing lab in Upland, Jake Bhattacharya didn't notice the lack of labels on marijuana products he consumed.
Today, the 28-year-old preaches the importance of measuring how "fragrant terpenes" (pungent, oily compounds secreted by the plant) affect the "analgesic power" (pain-relieving benefits) of cannabis.
"People want this information," said Bhattacharya, a long-haired Bernie Sanders supporter who occasionally does standup comedy. "That's what makes it a legitimate, normalized drug — when it's tested."
A technology buff, Bhattacharya was making a good living working on computers and copy machines.
But he wasn't happy or making the money he needed to buy the house on the hill he's sought since his parents emigrated from Bangladesh.
So six months ago, he launched Flower Potency Labs.
Calibrating his $8,000 gas chromatography testing machine isn't much different from calibrating copy machines, he said. To bridge the gap, he took a course offered by the machine manufacturer on preparing samples.
"There are a lot of procedures that go into testing," he said. "But once you know them like the back of your hand, you can knock out some very accurate tests in a short amount of time."
His lab is a pink-walled room in his home, and he's still pursuing what's now a voluntary accreditation. So he's fighting to compete with more sophisticated labs by offering slightly faster, cheaper potency tests.
He tells suppliers that labeling their wares with test results will boost their professionalism and justify charging a premium for potent products, the same way brewers charge more for high-alcohol ales.
Still, he said it's tough persuading them to fork over $65 for tests that won't be required until 2018, under state regulations recently signed into law.
Bhattacharya hopes to grow Flower Potency Labs to be ready for that boom. "I want to be a real player in the industry," he said.
GENETICIST/BREEDER
Eddie Funxta attended San Bernardino's San Gorgonio High School in the '90s and he voted for the first time in November 1996. That was the election when Californians passed Proposition 215, opening the door for pot to be smoked or ingested by suffering people.
Now 37, Funxta has been working for almost two decades to develop useful strains of cannabis that effectively ease patients' suffering.
After high school, he began breeding from a base in Hollywood. More recently, he operated in Colorado and Washington, responding to the demand created when those states greenlighted recreational use. Three months ago, he returned to Inland Southern California to continue his genetic engineering career.
Much of what Funxta does is trial and error.
"We don't know the plant's personality until we smoke it," said the Banning man who sports black slicked-back hair, long sideburns and a salt-and-pepper beard.
If the quality of a particular strain turns out to be subpar, Funxta starts over.
"I can't give that to my patients who are very sick," he said.
His job description is more specialized than others in the burgeoning industry. "It's kind of a special niche," he said.
At the same time, Funxta said there is a demand for breeders because of the wide variety of cannabis strains, and climates and soil conditions in which they are grown.
"We need breeders in every region," he said.
And as the industry expands, he said, there will be a need for many growers.
Funxta derives much satisfaction from his work.
Holding up a bottle of tincture and lifting out an eyedropper filled with a brown liquid, Funxta said, "I've had people taking bags of pills throw them away with this bottle."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Jobs - Working With Weed
Author: Brooke Edwards Staggs & David Downey
Contact: 1-800-794-6397
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: The Press Enterprise
Some are joining blue-collar unions, getting health benefits as they grow and sell a plant they've long loved. Some say they never touch it, but they're standing guard outside shops and fiercely lobbying legislators in Sacramento to ensure that others can.
As public support and legalization of cannabis spreads, those who've quietly worked in California's medical marijuana industry are slowly emerging from the shadows. And professionals who never would have considered joining the industry a couple of years ago are leaving behind traditional careers in law, real estate and finance as they flock to what they see as the next big boom.
"The fastest-growing industry in America is marijuana, period," said Jake Bhattacharya, who recently quit his information technology job to open a cannabis testing lab in Upland.
With medical marijuana legal in 25 states and recreational use allowed in four, pot outsold Girl Scout Cookies in 2015, according to a report from Marijuana Business Daily, a 5-year-old news website covering the industry.
Pot retail sales are expected to hit $4 billion this year, and Marijuana Business Daily is projecting that number could nearly triple by 2020.
The actual size of the industry may already be much larger, too, as California hasn't tracked its massive medical marijuana market in the 20 years since it's been legal. And it could skyrocket if voters here and in a handful of other states approve recreational use Nov. 8.
The lack of reliable data coupled with the "niche" aspect of the industry is why cannabis isn't included in mainstream economic and jobs reports, according to Christopher Thornberg, director of the Center for Economic Forecasting and Development at UC Riverside.
"It's still too fly-by-night," Thornberg said.
California's Employment Development Department doesn't track the diverse daisy chain of cannabis jobs. And several recruitment firms said they don't deal with the industry.
Job seekers and employers instead turn to Craigslist or specialized sites. A recent post on WeedHire.com was for a $75,000-a-year account manager at GFarmaLabs, which makes marijuana products in Anaheim, and one on 420careers.com for growers and trimmers at Buds & Roses dispensary in Los Angeles.
Working in the industry isn't without complications.
It remains illegal at the federal level, which limits access to financial services and causes lingering concerns over raids by federal authorities.
California's market is emerging from two decades of nearly nonexistent regulation and intense battles with local governments who were less than welcoming to "potrepreneurs." That legacy means newly licensed shops often still rely on growers and manufacturers in the gray market, and they struggle to survive alongside unlicensed operators who aren't paying the same hefty taxes.
Then there's the glaring disapproval that comes from shrinking (per the polls) but vocal pockets of the public. Fear of backlash from conservative family members or future business associates kept several cannabis workers from speaking on the record for this story.
"Let's face it, of course there is a stigma," said Juliet Murphy, a career coach who runs Juliet Murphy Career Development in Tustin.
Murphy expects it would raise eyebrows for more traditional employers to see a weed industry job on someone's resume. However, she sees it as less of an issue going forward as the industry becomes more mainstream and as millennials transform the workforce.
"There are still a lot of kinks that are being worked out. But I think this presents an opportunity for a lot of jobs, provided that people do it right," Murphy said. "I think in the next five to 10 years, it's going to be huge."
Eddie Funxta, a geneticist/breeder who lives in Banning, said the growth boom around the corner could be particularly huge for Inland Southern California. He said the industry has the potential to create good jobs in a two-county region that has lower incomes and has recovered more slowly from recession than coastal communities.
Funxta suggested it could even refresh San Bernardino's not-so-flattering image.
"The county already has a reputation for murder," he said. "Why not have a reputation as savior?"
Funxta has been working to develop useful strains of cannabis for years. He speaks passionately about its potential to ease the pain and discomfort of people suffering from cancer, AIDS and other debilitating ailments.
"It's our God-given right as human beings on this planet to be compassionate towards other people," he said.
Here are stories from a diverse group of locals willing to speak publicly — some for the first time — about what it's like to work in Southern California's legal marijuana industry.
EQUIPMENT SUPPLIER
Meet Andrew Yoon, a 24-year-old Corona man who moved to the area from St. Louis a few years ago.
"I grew up going to church," Yoon said. "I thought weed was so bad until I was 18, 19."
Then he tried marijuana recreationally, and persuaded his mother to use it medicinally to aid her successful battle against ovarian cancer.
"It helped her with the nausea, with sleeping," Yoon said.
A believer in marijuana's usefulness as a medicinal tool and convinced the industry has a bright future, Yoon started up an extraction-equipment supply business in January.
"It looks like a lab," Yoon said, in an interview Friday at his Xtractor Depot shop in San Bernardino.
There are chemistry-like glass tubes and spinning machines, and rows of stainless steel solvent tanks.
Yoon said some customers purchase complete systems for extracting active ingredients of cannabis, which are made into liquid tinctures, lotions, salves and edibles.
"Some people just need parts," he said. "They'll come in here and buy just one metal fitting."
He started with a two-person staff. Five months later, he operates with five employees recruited from the circle of friends he met in college. Since January, he said, Xtractor Depot has netted $1 million in sales.
Yoon, a clean-shaven man who still looks like a college kid, is making plans to expand. He intends to open a large distribution warehouse in Los Angeles and convert the San Bernardino "lab" into a "teaching facility" for people wanting to see how the extraction process works.
Yoon had no qualms about venturing into the business despite its stigma.
"I saw that it was booming, that it was growing," he said.
LAB TECHNICIAN
Before he opened a testing lab in Upland, Jake Bhattacharya didn't notice the lack of labels on marijuana products he consumed.
Today, the 28-year-old preaches the importance of measuring how "fragrant terpenes" (pungent, oily compounds secreted by the plant) affect the "analgesic power" (pain-relieving benefits) of cannabis.
"People want this information," said Bhattacharya, a long-haired Bernie Sanders supporter who occasionally does standup comedy. "That's what makes it a legitimate, normalized drug — when it's tested."
A technology buff, Bhattacharya was making a good living working on computers and copy machines.
But he wasn't happy or making the money he needed to buy the house on the hill he's sought since his parents emigrated from Bangladesh.
So six months ago, he launched Flower Potency Labs.
Calibrating his $8,000 gas chromatography testing machine isn't much different from calibrating copy machines, he said. To bridge the gap, he took a course offered by the machine manufacturer on preparing samples.
"There are a lot of procedures that go into testing," he said. "But once you know them like the back of your hand, you can knock out some very accurate tests in a short amount of time."
His lab is a pink-walled room in his home, and he's still pursuing what's now a voluntary accreditation. So he's fighting to compete with more sophisticated labs by offering slightly faster, cheaper potency tests.
He tells suppliers that labeling their wares with test results will boost their professionalism and justify charging a premium for potent products, the same way brewers charge more for high-alcohol ales.
Still, he said it's tough persuading them to fork over $65 for tests that won't be required until 2018, under state regulations recently signed into law.
Bhattacharya hopes to grow Flower Potency Labs to be ready for that boom. "I want to be a real player in the industry," he said.
GENETICIST/BREEDER
Eddie Funxta attended San Bernardino's San Gorgonio High School in the '90s and he voted for the first time in November 1996. That was the election when Californians passed Proposition 215, opening the door for pot to be smoked or ingested by suffering people.
Now 37, Funxta has been working for almost two decades to develop useful strains of cannabis that effectively ease patients' suffering.
After high school, he began breeding from a base in Hollywood. More recently, he operated in Colorado and Washington, responding to the demand created when those states greenlighted recreational use. Three months ago, he returned to Inland Southern California to continue his genetic engineering career.
Much of what Funxta does is trial and error.
"We don't know the plant's personality until we smoke it," said the Banning man who sports black slicked-back hair, long sideburns and a salt-and-pepper beard.
If the quality of a particular strain turns out to be subpar, Funxta starts over.
"I can't give that to my patients who are very sick," he said.
His job description is more specialized than others in the burgeoning industry. "It's kind of a special niche," he said.
At the same time, Funxta said there is a demand for breeders because of the wide variety of cannabis strains, and climates and soil conditions in which they are grown.
"We need breeders in every region," he said.
And as the industry expands, he said, there will be a need for many growers.
Funxta derives much satisfaction from his work.
Holding up a bottle of tincture and lifting out an eyedropper filled with a brown liquid, Funxta said, "I've had people taking bags of pills throw them away with this bottle."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Jobs - Working With Weed
Author: Brooke Edwards Staggs & David Downey
Contact: 1-800-794-6397
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: The Press Enterprise
