A little background about myself. I'm a Paramedic and one day I will be an RN. I would like to get in the MM industry. I have read and seen the benefits of Cannabis and there would be nothing more rewarding than not only helping patients but seeing the positive results it has on patients. What choices would I have to work in this field as a healthcare worker? I have considered becoming a budtender while attending nursing school. You might be thinking "Why would I give up being a Paramedic to work as a budtender?" I enjoy seeing positive results, not negative results. It sucks when you provide care,compassion and medicine only to see your Patient die. I'm sad of delivering bad news to families. The reward of having a first time patient return to a dispensary to say how much better they are since they have been prescribed cannabis would be amazing. No death. No dying. No sadness. Would my background in customer service, medicine (as a provider and an educator) and administration of controlled substances put me at an advantage of getting hired?
The experience would surely help. In the long term you may wish to investigate certain areas of scholarly advancement. IE I've noticed a few groups establishing "Endocannabinoid Deficiency" type foundations in which patients would be treated in respect to that. The subject matter of the Endocannabinoid system is quite fascinating and a powerful reason to use cannabis medicinally/therapeutically. I envision that in the future, healthcare workers and doctors specializing in this field would be required to know the ins and outs of this subject as part of their pre-reqs. The modulatory effects through this lipid-based system, which is entwined with our evolutionary process is no light matter. NORML.org has a great "Introduction to the Endocannabinoid System" found via google that I highly recommend. Their library section is very helpful. And if you're not familiar with his research yet, I highly recommend watching the videos of Dr. Bob Melamede on YouTube on this subject. Every one and their mom wants to be budtenders. A necessary entry point for experience but in the longterm, if *I* were looking to enter the healthcare portion of this field, would absolutely look to elevate knowledge/experience/credentials by becoming proficient in the advanced studies. I imagine that in the legal states, within 5 years we'll be blown away by how well-educated the average budtender is compared with the "stoney-stoner" head-shops of the past.
Man, my friend is an LVN and she is in the same boat. She loves her job, but hates watching people drugged to death. I think cannabis friendly hospice is an alternative that you might find more rewarding than budtending. Unless you're prepared to be a pioneer in the industry, sticking with healthcare that is weed friendly and knowledgeable will put you light years ahead of most people. I'm trying to convince my friend of the same thing. Having dedicated, trained healthcare workers who are open about their knowledge will be invaluable to this fight, and RNs will be responsible for knowing what you will already know at some point! AND DOCTORS TOO! It's ridiculous how few medical schools teach the endocannabinoid system! oh, and as a former budtender, I can attest, you'll still have patients die on you. They just get better quality of life. But then you still have to deal with being underappreciated, underpaid, all the idiots who will be buying and with a big black spot on your resume, if you find yourself in needing to NOT be in the industry ever again.
As a active hospice nurse I can tell you, THIS IS NOT TALK ABOUT. the patients need this information but that is how it is. if you go in to health care at this time expect to keep these subjects separate unless you want your licenses threatened. I have seen so many patients that use and feel they need to hide it from their nurse only a few are open. I even had one family bring it up to me as a possibility to treat symptoms and ask me questions, I answered them truthfully to my knowledge about the effects on the body and they turned me in to my supervisor. I received a write up and the threat to never even mentions the word again even if a patient asks me.
I don't know where you guys buy weed but in socal the budtenders are just digital scale operators. I'll never understand why people want that job so bad. They make minimum wage, if not less under the table. Weighing out sacks all day gets old.