TUCSON, AZ — The cannabis industry in the United States and here in Arizona is complex and ever-changing.
It's why the University of Arizona just added a new online course on cannabis compliance and risk management - to help people and industry professionals keep up.
Giving Tree Dispensary owner Lilach Mazor Power told ABC15 that everything with her business begins and ends with compliance, from the bar codes on products, to who she can sell the products to, to her inventory.
She said there was no how-to playbook when she was starting out years ago.
"Everything that we have done in cannabis used to be done in basements of people['s homes] and now it's on a commercial level, third-party lab testing, highly regulated," she said. "People have long-term careers with benefits here."
Because it's so rapidly changing, they have to keep up.
"Nothing we do this year's going to be the same next year because we learn so much as we go," she said.
It's a need higher education institutions like the University of Arizona are catching on to.
"As an educator, my charge is to make sure that we're providing a professional workforce that will allow these individuals to really be able to find a career path that makes a lot of sense to them," said UArizona Online, Distance, and Continuing Education Vice Provost Craig Wilson.
According to a Leafly jobs report, legal cannabis workers are projected to grow by 250 percent between 2018 and 2028. That far outpaces any other fast-growing career.
"These types of opportunities and the revenue that it generates can't be understated," Wilson said.
In 2020, Arizona employed more than 20,000 full-time employees in the cannabis industry.
Mazor Power said a job candidate studying cannabis compliance prior would only help their hiring chances.
"A person that actually went and studied, first of all, means they're interested in it, and, secondly, they come with something that I can sleep at night [with]," she said. "They already know the basics. They're not going to do something that will jeopardize the company, the employees, the customers."
The next start date for the Cannabis Compliance and Risk Management Certificate course is May 1.
