Jacob Redmond
Well-Known Member
As the state and licensed medical marijuana businesses take the final steps toward selling legal pot in Illinois, a union hosted a seminar Saturday in Gurnee to educate prospective employees who are interested in working in the burgeoning industry.
Qualified medical cannabis employees will be needed in the coming months to dispense the drug in various forms at approved Lake County locations. Three dispensary licenses were granted in Lake County on Feb. 3. In 2013 Illinois became the 20th state to legalize medical marijuana.
About two dozen people attended the two-hour seminar Saturday at the Lake County Federation of Teachers offices. They learned about job requirements and opportunities, security measures and joining United Food and Commercial Workers International Union's 1-million-plus workforce in North America.
Dispensary license holder Northshore Alternative Therapy, LLC, and The Lake Forest Group security consultants, as well as officials from UFCW Local 881, described the stringent requirements of working in the new field.
Northshore, owned by Lake Forest residents Andrew and Veronica Hunt, are set to be one of three tenants in a new building in the Briergate Business District west of Route 41 in Highland Park. Andy Hunt said the interior of the dispensary business at 1460 Old Skokie Road will occupy 2,400 square feet in the 7,700 square foot building and will resemble "a higher end doctor's office with pharmacy, cashier window and teller with product stored behind a bulletproof (partition)."
The Hunts and the city of Highland Park must complete the processes of plan commission approval and public hearing (scheduled for July 21), city council approval and finally, licensing and occupancy permits. Under the state's Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program, qualifying patients will be able to purchase up to 2.5 ounces of medical marijuana, or 70 grams, every two weeks.
The Hunts' yet-to-be-named business should be ready to dispense marijuana products by the end of the year, Andrew Hunt said. It will employ about eight to 10 people to start, serving as many as 20 patients a day. The Hunts said they chose Highland Park because of its proximity to their Lake Forest home, in order to maintain oversight of the business.
Officials said the Highland Park dispensary will do on-site training of new employee hires.
The other two medical marijuana dispensary licenses in the county went to the Greenhouse Group, locating on Pfingsten Road just south of Lake Cook Road in Deerfield; and PDI Medical Illinois, in Buffalo Grove.
"From a pure security standpoint, the biggest threat that we face is internal theft, so we're going to be very clear with our employees (on secure procedures)," said Mike Verden, of The Lake Forest Group security consultants.
Any employee involved in theft of product would not only be fired, but would face prosecution, said Verden, adding that electronic systems would alert management "immediately if any product is missing."
UFCW organizer Kristin Ryan told attendees that employee oversight is taken very seriously in the medical marijuana industry.
"You can expect background checks, to be fingerprinted — going to federal law enforcement agencies — recorded and under surveillance at all times; and your work sites are under inspection by state police, public health (officials) and agriculture agencies," she said. "We at the union feel it such a heavily supervised industry, and with so much surveillance on workers, that we feel it's beneficial to workers to have that union presence, to have a voice."
In addition to health and safety, there are strict product handling rules and other heavy supervision issues.
Ryan said prospective employees will deal with very sick people and may be required to serve as first responders in medical emergencies.
With the heavy pressures involved in medical cannabis employment, some attendees were optimistic that such demanding work could be rewarding in salary and benefits.
Nick Morrissey, a UFCW union representative and business agent, said Lake County "has been known as a highly educated area, with the North Shore health systems and Tri-State Tollway Medical Corridor. It's a great place (for a young job seeker) to start because this area is great for sustainable growth."
Opportunities in medical marijuana dispensing will abound for persons with backgrounds in nursing, retail and medical offices, said Morrissey.
Renee Applebey said she drove three hours from Galesburg to attend the seminar. Earlier in June she had visited Colorado to learn about the medical marijuana industry there.
"I just wanted to find out about the different opportunities that were going to be available in November and December when the dispensary opens," the Northern Illinois University junior said. "I learned a lot today. I wanted to see what was going to be coming to Illinois. A lot of people have bad perspectives on marijuana, but don't see the good parts, what it can do for (sick) people."
Although officials at the seminar didn't speculate on salary levels for workers, Applebey said if she got into the field and became a valued worker she'd expect to make $50,000 a year.
In an interview after the event, Marina Faz-Huppert said the union wants to ensure salaries reflect the training and responsibilities cannabis employees must take on.
"We (union officials) want to zero in on the health and safety of the employees," Faz-Huppert said. "We're in the beginning stages of training with the University of Illinois Public Health Department to address what issues OSHA have come up in other states and try to apply that knowledge."
Faz-Huppert cited workplace issues of "repetitive strain at a cultivation site, or working with someone very sick or someone has a seizure at the dispensary, or someone vomits, how is an employee going to handle those situations and protect themselves and other patients there waiting for their product?
"These employees will be ambassadors; they will be the face of the medical cannabis industry," she said.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Medical marijuana job seekers gather with union reps in Gurnee - Lake County News-Sun
Author: Denys Bucksten
Contact: Chicago Tribune contacts - Chicago Tribune
Photo Credit: Reuters
Website: Chicago Tribune: Chicago breaking news, sports, business, entertainment, weather and traffic - Chicago Tribune
Qualified medical cannabis employees will be needed in the coming months to dispense the drug in various forms at approved Lake County locations. Three dispensary licenses were granted in Lake County on Feb. 3. In 2013 Illinois became the 20th state to legalize medical marijuana.
About two dozen people attended the two-hour seminar Saturday at the Lake County Federation of Teachers offices. They learned about job requirements and opportunities, security measures and joining United Food and Commercial Workers International Union's 1-million-plus workforce in North America.
Dispensary license holder Northshore Alternative Therapy, LLC, and The Lake Forest Group security consultants, as well as officials from UFCW Local 881, described the stringent requirements of working in the new field.
Northshore, owned by Lake Forest residents Andrew and Veronica Hunt, are set to be one of three tenants in a new building in the Briergate Business District west of Route 41 in Highland Park. Andy Hunt said the interior of the dispensary business at 1460 Old Skokie Road will occupy 2,400 square feet in the 7,700 square foot building and will resemble "a higher end doctor's office with pharmacy, cashier window and teller with product stored behind a bulletproof (partition)."
The Hunts and the city of Highland Park must complete the processes of plan commission approval and public hearing (scheduled for July 21), city council approval and finally, licensing and occupancy permits. Under the state's Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program, qualifying patients will be able to purchase up to 2.5 ounces of medical marijuana, or 70 grams, every two weeks.
The Hunts' yet-to-be-named business should be ready to dispense marijuana products by the end of the year, Andrew Hunt said. It will employ about eight to 10 people to start, serving as many as 20 patients a day. The Hunts said they chose Highland Park because of its proximity to their Lake Forest home, in order to maintain oversight of the business.
Officials said the Highland Park dispensary will do on-site training of new employee hires.
The other two medical marijuana dispensary licenses in the county went to the Greenhouse Group, locating on Pfingsten Road just south of Lake Cook Road in Deerfield; and PDI Medical Illinois, in Buffalo Grove.
"From a pure security standpoint, the biggest threat that we face is internal theft, so we're going to be very clear with our employees (on secure procedures)," said Mike Verden, of The Lake Forest Group security consultants.
Any employee involved in theft of product would not only be fired, but would face prosecution, said Verden, adding that electronic systems would alert management "immediately if any product is missing."
UFCW organizer Kristin Ryan told attendees that employee oversight is taken very seriously in the medical marijuana industry.
"You can expect background checks, to be fingerprinted — going to federal law enforcement agencies — recorded and under surveillance at all times; and your work sites are under inspection by state police, public health (officials) and agriculture agencies," she said. "We at the union feel it such a heavily supervised industry, and with so much surveillance on workers, that we feel it's beneficial to workers to have that union presence, to have a voice."
In addition to health and safety, there are strict product handling rules and other heavy supervision issues.
Ryan said prospective employees will deal with very sick people and may be required to serve as first responders in medical emergencies.
With the heavy pressures involved in medical cannabis employment, some attendees were optimistic that such demanding work could be rewarding in salary and benefits.
Nick Morrissey, a UFCW union representative and business agent, said Lake County "has been known as a highly educated area, with the North Shore health systems and Tri-State Tollway Medical Corridor. It's a great place (for a young job seeker) to start because this area is great for sustainable growth."
Opportunities in medical marijuana dispensing will abound for persons with backgrounds in nursing, retail and medical offices, said Morrissey.
Renee Applebey said she drove three hours from Galesburg to attend the seminar. Earlier in June she had visited Colorado to learn about the medical marijuana industry there.
"I just wanted to find out about the different opportunities that were going to be available in November and December when the dispensary opens," the Northern Illinois University junior said. "I learned a lot today. I wanted to see what was going to be coming to Illinois. A lot of people have bad perspectives on marijuana, but don't see the good parts, what it can do for (sick) people."
Although officials at the seminar didn't speculate on salary levels for workers, Applebey said if she got into the field and became a valued worker she'd expect to make $50,000 a year.
In an interview after the event, Marina Faz-Huppert said the union wants to ensure salaries reflect the training and responsibilities cannabis employees must take on.
"We (union officials) want to zero in on the health and safety of the employees," Faz-Huppert said. "We're in the beginning stages of training with the University of Illinois Public Health Department to address what issues OSHA have come up in other states and try to apply that knowledge."
Faz-Huppert cited workplace issues of "repetitive strain at a cultivation site, or working with someone very sick or someone has a seizure at the dispensary, or someone vomits, how is an employee going to handle those situations and protect themselves and other patients there waiting for their product?
"These employees will be ambassadors; they will be the face of the medical cannabis industry," she said.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Medical marijuana job seekers gather with union reps in Gurnee - Lake County News-Sun
Author: Denys Bucksten
Contact: Chicago Tribune contacts - Chicago Tribune
Photo Credit: Reuters
Website: Chicago Tribune: Chicago breaking news, sports, business, entertainment, weather and traffic - Chicago Tribune
