Are you pursuing a chemistry degree but not sure what you’ll do with it? Are you tired of hearing about the same old job opportunities year after year?
Well, aspiring chemists, the marijuana industry needs you.
At last month’s meeting of the American Chemical Society, cannabis business owners stressed the industry’s rapidly growing need for chemists. It seems that — far from marijuana’s reputation as a motivation-killer — the plant is actually creating a need for thousands of jobs.
According to Chloe Villano, founder of a consulting firm for cannabis businesses, a deeper understanding of marijuana on the chemical level would make products safer and better. One practical application for chemistry would be improving the purity of oils, extracts and edibles.
For now, most of those jobs are in Colorado, Washington, Alaska, Oregon and other states that have legalized medicinal marijuana. But as cannabis becomes legal in more states, the need for chemists will skyrocket.
Chemists are not the only people who can benefit from marijuana-related jobs. According to the Marijuana Industry Group, the cannabis industry has created more than 10,000 new jobs in Colorado alone since January 2014.
And not every job requires an advanced degree in a technical field like chemistry. Those jobs include positions as bakers, cooks, accountants, consultants, farmers, store managers and more.
In a time when a college degree is no longer a guarantee of a well-paying job — or any job at all — the fledgling marijuana industry could provide opportunities for thousands of graduates looking for work.
Of course, part of the challenge for those hiring in the marijuana industry will be overcoming the stigma attached to the plant. Some chemists and other professionals might be loath to use their degrees in what is still seen by many as an illicit industry.
Negative attitudes toward marijuana make establishing new businesses difficult in other ways as well. For instance, The New York Times reports banks are hesitant to loan money to entrepreneurs in the marijuana business.
However, some of those negative attitudes will likely change with time, especially as millennials take control of our country’s purse strings.
What is certain is that we must establish a standard of thorough and rigorous research to monitor the societal effects of the marijuana industry. We are treading new ground, and new jobs aside, it’s vital to ensure cannabis legalization has no long-term negative consequences.
Research will also go a long way in dispelling the stigma surrounding marijuana.
Like many others, I am wary of cannabis. That attitude comes through years of anti-drug rhetoric, but I have genuine questions and concerns about the drug.
For me, at least, a well-vetted body of research from sources other than High Times and The Weed Blog would go a long way toward getting my vote in favor of marijuana legislation.
But it’s hard to argue with thousands of new jobs against it, especially when those jobs benefit everyone from college-educated professionals to craftsmen. And the marijuana industry will certainly provide fun and exciting opportunities for those looking to escape traditional chemistry labs.
But it will take more than promises of jobs to get the ball rolling on recreational marijuana legalization in the other 46 states. The more trusted research is made highly visible to the public, the more effectively the marijuana industry will be able to fight the pervasive stigma attached to it.
Until then, University chemistry students are unlikely to see the development of a cannabis concentration.
Alex Mendoza is a 22-year-old political science and international studies senior from Baton Rouge. You can reach him on Twitter @alexmendoza_TDR.