Beleave Kannabis Corporation is an Ontario marijuana company that wants to do more than just grow pot. Their goal is to build an empire of marijuana production specialists who know the science behind planting, regulation, and proper safety methods. The issue? A lack of experienced marijuana producers.
Since Canada legalized marijuana for both medicinal and recreational purposes, the industry has literally exploded with a demand for both more untarnished marijuana and experienced people to help tend the plants. The North American country was the very first industrialized country to fully decriminalize the plant this past October.
Turning to Universities for Assistance
The answer to the industry’s labor shortage has an easy answer – the recruitment of university science and medical students. Beleave Kannabis Corporation has asked local universities to send them the top of their classes.
In response to the new industry’s request, around a dozen colleges around Canada have added or expanded upon current courses to help train a brand-new generation of marijuana production specialists. These schools even allow the classes to count towards student’s associate’s or bachelor’s degrees. Other schools have chosen to offer special certifications.
The Era of the “Green Rush”
Alison McMahon is the founder of a web recruitment site called Cannabis At Work. She has dubbed this sudden boom “The Green Rush,” and the term is remarkably appropriate. The rush to learn the marijuana production trade, coupled with the public’s desperate need to end marijuana shortage issues, is reminiscent of the American Gold Rush in the 1840’s and 1850’s.
Canada legalized medicinal marijuana nearly two decades ago, in 2001, but October marked the beginning of this new era with recreational now being legal, also. This full decriminalization has led to a hiring boom. Growers need more hands to help scale up production, while distributers need more people to help supply the public directly.
The hiring boom is so large that marijuana openings now account for 34 of every 10K jobs posted in Canada, according to Indeed.
McGill University Becomes First to Offer Degree
Although many schools have incorporated classes that will count towards credit in science, botany, or medicine, McGill University has decided to take things a step further. Starting in January of 2020, students at the school will be able to receive a graduate degree in marijuana cultivation and production.
To be entered into the graduate program, a student must have completed a bachelor’s degree in botany or a related field. This could include earth sciences, biology, chemistry, pharmaceuticals, or any number of other fields.
Many thinks that the strict requirements of the graduate program are a little insane. When you consider the extensive knowledge needed to grow, understand, harvest, and otherwise tend to marijuana plants, the requirements are pretty standard.
Others thought a graduate program in marijuana cultivation was a little unorthodox in its own right. McGill University fired back to these statements, saying that a lot of science and understanding of agriculture is required to grow the many different strains of marijuana.