The Disillusioned Budtender

It has been nearly three months since I bolted from my job as a Budtender at a local dispensary. 
Three months of missing my customers.
Three months of wondering which direction to take with my life.
Three months of receiving cannabis job postings from across Canada....and I have something to say about that.

Literally every day I have received emails from Indeed.com with multiple job postings from across Canada for employment in anything Cannabis related. Those jobs postings are for positions like; Master Grower, Medical Sales Reps, Medical Receptionist, Security Guards, Executive Assistances, AVAC Techs, Accountants, Social Media Specialists, Graphic Designers, Chief Financial Officers, Production Facility Managers, Director of E-Commerce, International Import/Export Associates, IT Support, QA Managers...and the list goes on. All require a higher level of education than I have. But this is not a pity party. I have a point.

Not once have I received less than three, but usually its between 10 and 30 new job postings, A DAY!

The few posts for Budtenders out there are almost always for part time positions, OR they are looking for people with Social Work backgrounds or medical backgrounds. It is disheartening to say the least!

I have knowledge! Lots of it. I also have the skill and professionalism to teach others one on one how to medicate, which strains to pick and which method of intake would be best for different issues, or lifestyles. I know how and HAVE taught people, with success, how to make their life better when medicating with cannabis. But apparently that skill is not enough for the legal or grey market. Unfortunately I am not savvy enough to know how to market myself and start my own business.

My perspective of who uses cannabis, and this whole legalization process has changed a couple times since I have become a medical cannabis user only four short years ago. I now see very little difference between medical users and recreation users. Anyone who uses cannabis regularly, even if its a couple times a month, is using it for its medicinal properties. The real difference is one could find a doctor to write the damn prescription, and the others either are too afraid to ask, or can't find (or afford) a doctor to write the prescription. That's the ONLY difference.

Meanwhile our government is literally stealing away the very medicine, and the jobs we held, from us. In part by arresting honest people who chose to help others in the grey (black) market, which in turn prevents them from getting good paying jobs in pretty much anything due to having a criminal record.  But also by taking these cannabis jobs and putting titles, and educational parameters that many in the field already, don't have. Many of us had to get those jobs, and our education from the illegal market place, or while in hiding. It's beginning to feel like the government is trying to take away the knowledge of cannabis from the common man by lifting all the jobs up and out of the common workforce. Or maybe I'm just being paranoid...

Another issue I have found. No one in the government sanctioned medical Licenced Producer market is willing to hire from the grey market. We are marked as a non-conformist. We work in the grey market because we don't believe the system the Liberals brought in will work, so right there we don't qualify, because we don't already tow the line.

Am I less of an advocate because I am unwilling to take a part-time job as a Budtender somewhere? Am I less qualified because I am unwilling to risk being arrested?

No. But with all the angry postings on Facebook from medical and recreational users and advocates I think I am seen as less. With companies passing up my knowledge and passion to teach others how to medicate effectively for their clients improved health I'm wondering why I bothered in the first place.

Where is the peace, love, and hippie-shit Cannabis use to be about? Where is the community I first found when I started? Now I'm seeing division between Legal and Illegal and Grey market places. I'm seeing and hearing how medical dispensaries are pitted against one another and even calling the police to report other dispensaries or personal growers. Its despicable!

Yes, its about money. Everything is always about money (and control)...unfortunately while some are trying to sabotage others and we have infighting amongst the good people who originally wanted to help, the govt is still bulldozing a broken system into place and we will soon have no other options, other than to go back to the black market and remain in hiding.
Perhaps I'll learn what its like to have to look over my shoulder after all.

God I wish I was a better writer....I'd apply somewhere as a Cannabis writer if I were.

oh well. The call centre gig is all I got for now.

Peace Love and Hippie-shit people...it's still important. As is fighting together for our rights.

Keep up with me on Instagram #Newbieontheherb, and Newbieontheherb on Facebook too.

A Perspective As Canada Moves Forward

Please note: I have looked for actual study links to back up the claims I am just blatantly throwing out here. I want this to be accurate and not just some chick on a rant with no knowledge to back her up. Admittedly those hard fact studies are hard to find when journalist or articles do not site their research. I've chosen the links with the best evidence I could find (at this time). 

 How can a chemical that has shown promise to kill cancer, stop some of the most stubborn epilepsy, one we naturally produce ourselves, have a whole networked system for in our bodies  (see video below) and our nursing mothers fed us with as still (*Note: see below) mentally developing infants...how can this same chemical compound possibly have negative effects on the teenage brain?! I'm not a scientist. But I can follow the path and find an obvious disconnect. I just don't follow that logic. 

Do I agree cannabis should be widely available to any and all? Children, teens and adults alike?!  Not at all. Unfortunately our society has created such a large error in misinformation with fear tactics that I do not think that a wise move.  Instead we need to start slow and protect society from itself in a way. Put up lots of barriers, precautions and focus on good solid education that will equip people to function as good responsible adults. Slowly as the society grows to embrace the reality of this substance the protections and precautions will drop. 

To those of  you who have been on this grassroots movement for years and even decades we thank you for getting us this far! What an amazing job you have all done. It is you who took all the negative force society was brainwashed into believing. Just Wow!  It's because of you that I can feel safe to hide in my barn to smoke my prescribed cannabis. Or stand at a crosswalk beside police officers while using my vape (true story). It's also you who must feel like this process is just taking forever! You did all the hard work of birthing a movement. Not all of it is even all out into the light yet, but it almost is. 

For the rest of us just coming in or waking up to see or participate in this birthing we must remember. First to be thankful for the cost others have paid for this privilege. Second to listen to those who paid the price and have been in the trenches. They are wise! They have been thinking about this for a long time. They know some stuff!  And lastly, for everyone regardless of whether you are in the movement or a sideliner, remember we as a society are just getting birthed into this concept. It will have to be strictly regulated until we all grow and mature. 

Cuz, the last I've seen, it takes time for that to happen. About eighteen years before we've grown and matured to adulthood where we can be responsible for our own lives, give or take a few years.

So it's just a thought, but let society take it slow to grow, and catch up. Because it will be a delicate balancing act that our Politicians have to set up. I advocate education, grace, and wisdom as Canada moves at what feels like a snails pace, for now. If we learn everything we can and pass on good quality

information we can back up instead of believing and spreading crap like NASA found THC on a meteor (was probably found in a corn field somewhere), or ranting that MP Bill Blair has to go, maybe the change we are wanting will happen because of us.

* Note: Quote from link on Breast Milk...This is so huge I wanted everyone to know it.

"Endocannabinoids have been detected in maternal milk and activation of CB1 receptors appears to be critical for milk sucking ... apparently activating oral-motor musculature," says the abstract of a 2004 study on the endocannabinoid receptor system that was published in the European Journal of Pharmacology.