BY MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
As part of a new cannabis certification program, Northwest Missouri State University will holds a virtual Cannabis Career Summit today.
Consultant Zach Carson with Green Flower says with the legalization of cannabis in parts of the country and medical marijuana being legalized in Missouri along with the success of sales, the industry has the potential to turn into one of the biggest job markets in Missouri.
"There's some stats that say the medical cannabis sales in Missouri have exceeded 70 million dollars between October 2020 and July 2021," Carson tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "And with the evolution from medical to eventually recreational, it can be one of the biggest job creators in the state."
Carson is well aware of the negative stigma surrounding cannabis and medical marijuana, but expects that to fade away as it legalization becomes more prevalent.
"Cannabis being a drug is sort of washing away and people are getting a lot more used to it, they're becoming a lot more educated, the rumors and the lies about the plant have been sort of debunked now, medical research is growing," Carson explains.
Carson adds it's slightly harder to build the relationships you need to with customers in northwest Missouri due to how spread out everything is across the state.
"The relationships that develop between customers and providers sort of need to be stronger, and the access needs to evolve to present equal opportunity for everyone to get that medicine," Carson says.
Carson, the executive producer of the Cannabis Career Summit, says it was a great opportunity partnering with Northwest and the cannabis certification program to help educate future producers. Participants in the summit earned a discount towards the cannabis certification program at Northwest.
The Cannabis Career Summit runs from 11 am until 3:45pm Friday. If you want to learn more about how you can access employment opportunities in the cannabis industry, registration is free found HERE.