|
We Update
Daily!
Custom Search
Chris S. Kenoyer. Owner &
MMJ Patient,
Medical Activist,
Online Patients Advocate,
Online News Journalist
My
Personal Medical Bio
Follow Us Now On Twitter
@MedicalMMJMan
Email Us Here
olpwebs@yahoo.com
Or
Email Us Securely Here
olpwebs@Safe-mail.net
TV
News Or Press Contact Info
The Website Audio &
Multimedia
Content!
Is Best
Viewed With Internet Explorer Browser!
********************************
Advertise Here
On OnlinePot
Rates As Low As $50 a Year
24/7 365 Days A Year
Of Sales!
********************************
OnlinePot Free Newsletter
The
Latest In MMJ News
Legal
Disclaimer
Guest Book
To translate text or
a web page go
to:
Language Tools
Google
Translations
Website
Submissions & News
Reports
Are Always
Gladly
Accepted Here.
Is CBD? A Possible
Cure For
Breast Cancer?
And All The Other
Many
Forms & Types
Of Cancer?
Learn
More About " CBD" Here
Cancer Cured:
A Cannabis Story
Website Navigational Links
*******************************************
Main
Start Page 2
*******************************************
Parody's
Cartoons US
Government Grown Pot,
Term Papers,
School
Reports, & Thesis's On
Marijuana & Cannabis
*******************************************
Amsterdam
A to Z
*******************************************
Canadian
Marijuana
Websites
*******************************************
Church's
& Pot Cannabis
*******************************************
Co-Ops, Clinics, Dispensary's
******************************************
Marijuana
Doctors & Clinics
*******************************************
Pot
Cooking Recipes
*******************************************
Drug
Testing A To Z
*******************************************
Pot Games
*******************************************
100's
Of Marijuana Grow Guides
*******************************************
Latest
Marijuana News Reports
*******************************************
Hash A- Z
*******************************************
Cannabis
Legal Info, Drug
Lawyers, State, Federal Laws,
State
& Supreme Court Rulings
*******************************************
POW's
Of The MMJ
War!
*******************************************
Other
Marijuana Websites
Websites
Link
Exchange!
*******************************************
Medical
Marijuana
Studies,
Research
Report's, Medical
Cannabis Clinic Study's
*******************************************
Avoiding Online MOM
Scammers
Newly
Re-Updated Info!
*******************************************
The Politics Of
Contraband
Medical Marijuana In The Mail?
*******************************************
The
Hall Of Shame Section
The Online MOM Scammers
*******************************************
Online MOM's Providers Ads
*******************************************
Politicians
&
Voters Rights
*******************************************
Medical
Marijuana, Strains
*******************************************
The OG
Marijuana Strain Guide
*******************************************
800+
FAQ Growing Questions
*******************************************
Marijuana & Pot Songs
Just Updated!
*******************************************
Patients
Spiritual
Guidance,
Free Online
Crisis Help Center
*******************************************
Online
Marijuana Seed Banks
*******************************************
Maximum Security
Section
Just Updated!
Hushmail.com Security Alert!
*******************************************
Traveling
Tips, Guides, B & B's
*******************************************
Vaporizers
A To Z
*******************************************
Online Pot Video's & Movies
*******************************************
Visit Our Sister Websites!
www.OLPInternetRadio.com
The
Reefer Madness
Teaching Museum.org
Listen Right Here Online!
To Original 1930-1950's
Reefer Madness Propaganda
Radio
Shows And Programs
Before TV
There Were "Radio Stars"
Maine
Patients Coalition.org
The
Reefer Madness Teaching Museum.org
1999-2011 Copyright ©
All Rights Reserved.
No part of this site maybe used or
reproduced in whole or in part
without
the written consent of the
Copyright
Owner Chris Kenoyer
www.onlinepot.org
OnlinePot assumes no legal
liability
for
any products, or
information or
news
posted, services
offered,
Or
any contests or give away's offered.
| | BUDTENDERS HELP MEDICAL MARIJUANA PATIENTS
CHOOSE STRAINS THAT FIT THEIR NEEDS
Medical Marijuana Industry Creates New Job Categories, Passionate
Advocates
Here's a job title that didn't exist around here a couple of years ago "budtender."
That would be the person helping a medical marijuana patient select the proper
strain to treat his or her ailment. It's a job that requires a mix of
mundane skills such using a cash register and making change, a little science
nerdism to talk about the brain's cannabinoid receptors and the like, a
familiarity with terms such as "couch lock" ( since stoner
descriptives can creep into a serious medical discussion ), a passing knowledge
of agronomy to explain hybrid strains, empathy, good communications skills, and
generally -- assuming the budtender has a medical marijuana card -- some
firsthand knowledge.
Perhaps not surprisingly, given the latter continuing education aspect, it's a
job much in demand.
"Hundreds of people come in here and want a job," says Jan Cole, owner
of GreenLeaf Farm, a dispensary in downtown Boulder, she says, and then amends
it to about a hundred. Cole budtends herself and has hired five or six
budtenders, often former patients, whose knowledge on the subject impressed her.
Industry of the future
Currently, there's no systematic way to learn about which types of marijuana
work best for various disorders, so budtenders read books including the "Cannabible,"
search Web sites, talk to others in the business and monitor customer feedback
about the effectiveness of certain strains.
Cole, who pays her budtenders between $10 and $20 an hour, says some of her best
budtenders are University of Colorado students, who became patients to deal with
pain from skiing or snowboarding injuries.
"They work hard. They study it," she says. "They
actually do homework and write things about the strains. They're very much
into it. They're people who plan on making this their lifelong
career."
Cole says she knows of an architecture student who hopes to design greenhouses
if marijuana becomes strictly regulated
A helping profession
Sarah Reidy, a budtender at GreenLeaf Farm, isn't yet sure whether medical
marijuana will be a part of her career future, but it's a possibility.
She's junior at CU, majoring in English and political science, and planning a
law career. She has already done an internship with Robert Corry, a Denver
lawyer specializing in medical marijuana, and she's also development director
for the National Association for the Reform of Marijuana Laws at CU. After
having seen the legal side of medical marijuana, Reidy, 20, decided she wanted
to get a look at the industry at the dispensary level.
"I grew up in the northern suburbs of Chicago and went to Catholic
schools," she says. "I grew up with a community service
background, but I haven't really been able to find much of that in Colorado.
Surprisingly, this industry really feels that way to me. It helps a lot of
very sick people."
Reidy says there is a stigma about medical marijuana that people just use it to
get high. Before she became involved with the industry, she believed that,
too, to some extent.
"My opinion has done a 180," she says.
While a glance at dispensary review Web sites shows seems to indicate that some
people are recreational users, Reidy and others say the most important thing
about medical marijuana is that it can offer benefits similar to some
pharmaceuticals with fewer side effects.
Reidy particularly remembers a woman who came in as a new patient.
"She just looked sick," Reidy says. "While I was explaining
to her how the caregiver process works, she had to excuse herself ( to the
bathroom ). She was afraid she was going to be sick. After we talked
about the caregiver process, she was able to purchase her medicine."
A week later, the same patient came back.
"She was smiling, energetic. She was so happy I remembered her name.
I was able to help her get medicine to keep her feeling like that."
The art of budtending
Cole says when growers bring in marijuana, they are asked to fill out a
questionnaire that explains the strain, and its genetics, the percentage of
indica and sativa -- the two types of marijuana have different effects, but are
often hybridized together in varying percentages by growers to treat different
problems. Staff then researches the strain and sometimes tries it.
Reidy says that direct experience of the strain helps her understand its
properties better and feel more confident recommending it. Staff members
chart what their online and book research says about a strain and then record
their own reactions to it.
Budtenders at other dispensaries often do similar reading and personal research.
Ryan Hartman, co-owner of the Boulder Wellness Center, says some of his
budtenders are friends who are quite knowledgeable about marijuana. One
picked up expertise working at a hydroponics store. Hartman says knowledge
is a key aspect of the budtending job.
"We get a lot of older ( patients ) who come in, maybe tried ( marijuana )
in college 30 years ago. ( Now ) their doctor recommended it for
them," Hartman says. "That's why we train ( our budtenders
)."
Working with a new patient with no experience of medical marijuana first
requires some tutelage in the basics -- the difference between indica and
sativa, the two general types of marijuana plants.
"Sativa is more of a cerebral kind of high," Hartman explains.
"During the day, you have to be at work. You're in a little pain, but
you can function and think. Indica is more of a stronger pain killer, more
of a body high. It can put you to sleep. Typically you want to smoke
sativa in the day and indica at night."
Most strains mix sativa and indica in different proportions and then have
varietal differences as well. The budtender has to find the right blend
for the patient.
"Someone might come in and say, 'I have cancer. I don't want to be
smoking things that make me hyper," Hartman says.
His budtenders ask people to write down how well a strain worked, which can help
to narrow down the right strain.
Cole says some of the choice also comes down to customer preference.
"For some, it comes down to the flavor. Is it earthy, fruity, spicy
or you know -- skunky? In a lot of ways it's like wine tasting. Some
people like to choose a medicine based on how it smells. Budtenders have
to ask a lot of questions. They have to be people people to extract the
information they need," Cole says.
Some people prefer tinctures or marijuana in food -- edibles -- as they are
called, and the budtender has to know the proper dose.
As with much of the industry, budtending is so new that people are still
defining the way the job should be done, just as growers and patients are
experimenting with different strains in an attempt to find out what the
potential of medical marijuana really is.
New services are springing up in those areas, as well.
School days
Greenway University holds workshops to help potential dispensary owners
understand legal requirements, known in the industry as compliance. Gus
Escamilla, founder and CEO, says Greenway began teaching students in Colorado
late last year, after expanding operations from California.
The school -- Escamilla can't resist calling it higher education -- plans to
offer classes that lead to a certification in budtending starting next month.
The five-class certification course will involve testing, he says, on various
strains and also on legal rules. The certification will cost about $200,
he says.
"When you come to our course, you'll get schooled on the knowledge of the
medicinal effect -- whether is causes a heady high or couch lock."
For those not planning budtending certification or an immersion in marijuana's
rich language, Escamilla says couch lock is "you receive a potentially
higher dosage or maybe your body isn't as ready to receive that. You just
sit."
The school also plans to offer a $1,000 course in master grower certification,
which will be a 13- to 18-week course on growing techniques and various strains.
"It's so much more than how much does my plant grow and how big can I get
it," he says, adding that about 2,800 strains are on the market today, the
result of hybridizing about 25 to 30 pure varieties.
He'd like to see widespread lab testing, so patients will know exactly what
they're getting.
Cole of GreenLeaf Farm plans to begin having her product tested. She
believes marijuana eventually will be tested and regulated.
"You'll know what ailments to use it for exactly," she says.
"You won't have to sit on the Internet for hours researching the
medicine."
That may make budtending as it is currently practiced obsolete. In the
meantime, however, it's a job a lot of people want.
Return
Back To Main Medical Reports Page
|
Button Ad
Spaces 
