It’s a huge job growth and it happens very quickly. We are actively recruiting .” customers and partners in Missouri.
By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent
Marcus Kerr had his own California food truck and was about to open a dispensary when he stopped by one day.
He said, “I met the owner of this company and had his food.” “They said, “Hey, can this be infused?” Then, I began working for the big boys.”
Kerr started creating edible recipes in a California laboratory and has been involved in the cannabis industry ever since. He’s thrilled to be part Missouri’s journey into recreational marijuana.
Kerr moved to St. Louis approximately a month ago. He joined the Luxury Leaf cannabis Dispensary team in St. Louis as a specialist. He is a family man who has passed on cannabis science to his children.
He laughed, “I’m from Jamaica where it’s growing side by the mountains, so I’m in my DNA.” It’s in my DNA, literally.
Kerr is one of thousands who have found jobs in Missouri’s cannabis industry since Missouri voters approved recreational marijuana use via a constitutional amendment. Amendment 3 was on the November ballot.
The best way to see the job surge is through the increase in the number of state-approved licenses each month for new employees. It has quadrupled since November.
Anybody who wishes to work in this industry, including owners, must obtain an “agent identification badge” from the state. This includes a background check.
The Department of Health and Senior Services, which oversees the state’s cannabis program approved 264 badges in November. It increased by more than 500 badges in December, and then doubled to more 1,100 badges in January and February.
Christy Essex, the Missouri’s largest cannabis staffing company, runs Se7en Staffing & Employment Solutions. She sees job growth continuing throughout the year.
She stated that there is an increase in demand across all industries. “In manufacturing and laboratories, we have actually been staffing all the entities right at the moment.”
Essex stated that dispensaries across the state are having difficulty keeping their shelves stocked. To help them, some companies have hired temporary “project” workers to make it through the “short term crunch.”
According to DHSS at the end February 12,970 people had marijuana agent IDs. This is an increase of 10,100 at November’s end.
Missouri is now considered the “darling of the cannabis industry” after it reached $102.9 million in sales (or $72 million for recreational marijuana) within the first month, according to Sloane Barbour of engin, a technology platform that allows cannabis companies to hire hourly workers.
Missouri is poised to be a billion-dollar state.
Barbour stated that “billion-dollar markets such as Michigan, Illinois, and Massachusetts have anywhere from 30,000 to 50,000 workers in cannabis industry.” It’s a huge job growth and it happens very quickly. We are actively and aggressively hiring Missouri customers and partners.
A bill in the state legislature would require fingerprinting to ensure that all employees are background checked. This could be a problem for those trying to fill these positions quickly.
The bill passed the state Senate already and should be easy to pass the House.
Background checks
Since 2014, Essex has been involved in Missouri’s workforce development. She also began to research the benefits of medical treatment for one of her relatives.
She saw an opportunity to combine her passions for workforce development with educating people about cannabis’ benefits when Illinois and Missouri legalized medical marijuana.
She said, “And here I am.” “So my heart is all in it all the way around,” she said.
Essex provides training for employees at all levels so that they are prepared to enter the ever-changing industry.
She said, “You can be an chemist but what is it like to be one in a cannabis lab?”
Her company spends “tremendous” time educating people about background checks. She said that many people, particularly minorities, assume that if there’s a background check, they won’t be qualified if they have a record of a misdemeanor.
She said, “It places a level of fear among individuals.”
Although the constitution says that anyone with a “disqualifying offense” cannot work in the marijuana industry, it does not specify which types of felony offenses. The constitution exempts marijuana offenses which are eligible for expungement. The law also states that employees can be exonerated if the offense is a nonviolent felony.
It states that for other felonies, the sentence requires that “more than 5 years have passed since the person was released on parole or probation and he/she has not been convicted or any subsequent felony criminal offenses.”
According to DHSS, a lot is subjective in their reviews.
Lisa Cox, a spokesperson for DHSS, wrote an email to The Independent, stating that “what is written into law is then applied each individual record”,
Washington, D.C. and 21 other states have approved recreational and adult use of cannabis, while 39 states have legalized medical marijuana.
Each state has a different approach to background checks. Only owners in California are required to undergo fingerprint-based criminal background checks. Not employees. Arizona, however, requires fingerprint-based background checks on all employees, volunteers, board members, and owners.
John Payne, the founder and managing member for Amendment 2 Consultants, stated that lawmakers often refer back to the “Cole Memo”, which is the basis of how they approach this process.
The memo was issued by James Cole, the then-U.S. deputy attorney general, to address the increase in legalizations of medical marijuana. Payne says that it was essentially an agreement that the federal government would leave state marijuana programs alone as long as certain conditions were met.
Payne stated that one of the conditions was to prevent people from organized crime getting into the marijuana industry. It all depends on the purpose of the background check, right? It would be reasonable if it was for people with that type of background.
Fingerprinting
Since Amendment 3 was implemented on December 8, DHSS has stopped requiring employees to take fingerprints for ID badge applications.
Essex stated, “You must attest that you have not committed disqualifying offenses.” “Right now we are able to get people into work within 48 hours.”
She said that the fingerprinting process can take up to 14 days for an employee to be hired.
Missouri’s Amendment 3 adult-use law, like California, requires that owners only undergo fingerprint-based background checks. According to DHSS.
Cox stated that the 2018 constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana–which was also on the ballot as Amendment 2–still requires all employees, owners, and contractors to go through the process.
Republican Senator Tony Luetkemeyer, Parkville, has sponsored a measure that would allow fingerprinting to return to the process it was before Amendment 3. This language was added to a bill concerning background checks for school employees. It will be heard by a House committee Tuesday.
Missouri Cannabis Trade Association supports the measure, which represents both cannabis business owners and professionals.
Cox stated that the bill would require background checks for all employees, contractors and owners of facilities regardless of their type of licensure.
Essex stated that the problem she sees is the insufficient number of vendors who can take fingerprints to keep up with the workers for medical marijuana, especially in larger cities such as Kansas City or St. Louis.
Essex stated that if fingerprinting is implemented again, Essex believes there will be more Missouri providers who can handle large numbers of candidates.
Dan Viets from Columbia, who wrote the language for Amendment 3, stated that he can’t recall anyone intentionally removing fingerprint requirements for employees in the recreational marijuana program.
He believes that it should be left out.
He said that the 2018 constitutional amendment was written to address concerns about criminal history. “We might not have needed it for medical staff if we had to make it over.”
Sen. Holly Rehder (R-Sikeston) stated that the fingerprinting requirement was a federal requirement during a Senate floor discussion.
She said that the amendment to her background checks bill would “put us in line with federal regulation”.
Payne suggested that she was likely referring to the Cole Memo because marijuana is not regulated by the federal government.
Barbour was also in agreement.
“There’s $32 billion worth of commerce happening…right now in the U.S. that is all technically federally illegal–racketeering of the broadest scale,” Barbour said. “This means that the state legislatures…are still trying to figure this out. This is a very uncharted area.
Missouri Independent published this story for the first time.
Bipartisan Wisconsin Lawmakers Believe Medical Marijuana is Possible This Session. However, It Will Have To Be Subject to Serious Limitations
The post Missouri’s Marijuana Legalization Already Created Thousands of New Jobs, State Data shows appeared first at Marijuana Moment.
