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.