Shameka Beach learned the therapeutic benefits of cannabis as a teenager, when her mother used the drug to relieve the agonizing muscle spasms that literally left her screaming. Beach said her mom's reprieve from pain showed her that marijuana was far more than a party drug.
With the passage of Issue 2, Ohio will need scores of people, like Beach, to fill jobs in the industry. Marijuana is an explosive job creator in other states – from areas like cultivation to patient consultants, said CSC education director Nicole Fenix. "We have 132 dispensaries in the medical cannabis arena, and that's going to double with adult use, because most companies will apply for dual licensing," said Fenix.
Companies that add recreational licenses to their existing medical certification will double Ohio's cannabis workforce. CSC, billed as the only certified cannabis education institution in the Midwest, offers science classes on the medical applications of cannabis, along with a marketing curriculum that teaches the finer points of product branding.
"(Employees) go to a dispensary and hold what's called an education day," said Fenix, whose school has been preparing students for the job force since 2017. "They know your products, or what creates that niche, and they're educating the consumer that comes into the dispensary. That's been an interesting thing to watch in the last three or four years."
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