Working in a medical marijuana dispensary: my thoughts

[Amphetamine Salts]

for anyone interested in a pharmacist cannabis dispensary job this should be highly valuable. right now i work in a dispensary as one of the two pharmacists. me and my partner are the two pharmacists of the store. we work with patient consultants which are the "budtenders", these are most similar to pharmacy techs. they check in the customers and then ring them out when they make a purchase. the patient consultants do most of the work. really as a pharmacist here i have very little job responsibility, which brings me to my next point

this is probably the most chillest job i'll ever have. about 5% the stress level of retail, maybe even less than that. basically, i get my own office that i can chill in all day if i want to. i bring my chromebook from home and can use it while in my office. i have two job responsibilities. the first is verifying the certifications of each new patient that comes in. the second is being available for any consultations or questions that a patient may have. and that's pretty much my job. i rarely get consults, most of the time i get 0 in a whole day, at the most 1 or 2. really this is an extremely chill job. the first week i was kissing the floor, and i still kind of am. i can sit down all day, i get lunch breaks, and soooo much down time. the quality of life is 1000x better than retail by far. the only downside is the pay rate. i took a 25% decrease in my hourly pay rate. but i don't even care, it's 100% worth it. the quality of life is just too good. plus at my previous job i was guaranteed only 32 hours a week, whereas here i get 40 hours per week

overall this job is fantastic. it's a very chill and low key job. you have such low job responsibility. company culture is great, almost everyone is great, managers are very chill. what more can you ask for? you basically just need to be there and that's it, it's important to study a lot about cannabis before you start so you have a good foundation. but once you grasp the basics such as sativa vs indica, cbd&thc, dosage forms, terpenes, etc then you should be good. the depth of customer questions and consultations doesn't get too deep, which is great because you don't need to know very specific details. it can help if know though. but yeah the amount of knowledge you need is mostly foundation of cannabis. a lot of the info on cannabis isn't really backed by much data anyway so most of the time there is no "right" recommendation

in general though half of the time i'm doing whatever on my chromebook. i run a company as well so it's common for me to settle into my office in the morning and check up on the business. make sure my quickbooks are updated and monitoring my advertisements and profits for the day. it's like doing work while at work, and getting paid both ways

i feel very lucky and grateful to be in this position. just 1 year out of school and i've settled in a very cushiony position. allowing me to focus on my passions, my company, and other things. truly grateful

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[animalsasleaders]

Do. You. Need. An. Intern?

 

[Amphetamine Salts]

Thank you so much for this information! If you have a chance, could you share a little information on how you went about transitioning out of retail and getting your job at a dispensary? Thanks

it was not all too hard. i believe most of it was being in the right place at the right time. the company i'm working for opened a new store a month ago and they needed 2 pharmacists to be the regulars. i was in the process of applying before the place opened so they were actively looking to fill the positions. i ended up getting an interviewing and calling/following up a lot with the manager until i finally got the offer

 

[Amphetamine Salts]

Do. You. Need. An. Intern?

no i'm not required to have an intern

 

[Doctorishere12345]

how do this works since federal considered marijuana as illegal and C-1 or It doesn't matter as long the state board is ok of selling it???

 

[RxPreceptor]

Do you feel like working in such an environment with such a limited diversity of drug(s) to dispense will result in you forgetting a lot about standard/common medications? I think I would die from boredom in an environment like this or something similar like a methadone clinic

 

[wagrxm2000]

Can you watch TV?

Also is your position required?

 

[Rouelle]

Does your state require a pharmacist in dispensaries? I assume you live in a medical only (non-recreational) state? If your state legalizes recreational, will your position be eliminated?

 

[Amphetamine Salts]

Do you feel like working in such an environment with such a limited diversity of drug(s) to dispense will result in you forgetting a lot about standard/common medications? I think I would die from boredom in an environment like this or something similar like a methadone clinic

yes for sure, if you don't do independent study to keep up with common medications and pharmacy, then your knowledge will decline. probably after a few years of working here i'll start to forget proper treatment regimens for disease states

Can you watch TV?

Also is your position required?

the state i'm in requires a healthcare professional on site at all hours of operation, so yes i am required

i can basically do whatever i want in my office. i could probably get away with putting in ear buds and watching youtube all day if i wanted to. i don't pop ear buds in though cause i don't want to make it obvious that i'm doing other stuff most of the time

Does your state require a pharmacist in dispensaries? I assume you live in a medical only (non-recreational) state? If your state legalizes recreational, will your position be eliminated?

yes pharmacist is required. we are medical only. if we go recreational then there is a chance i may lose my job, it depends on the company

 

[wagrxm2000]

yes for sure, if you don't do independent study to keep up with common medications and pharmacy, then your knowledge will decline. probably after a few years of working here i'll start to forget proper treatment regimens for disease states

the state i'm in requires a healthcare professional on site at all hours of operation, so yes i am required

i can basically do whatever i want in my office. i could probably get away with putting in ear buds and watching youtube all day if i wanted to. i don't pop ear buds in though cause i don't want to make it obvious that i'm doing other stuff most of the time

yes pharmacist is required. we are medical only. if we go recreational then there is a chance i may lose my job, it depends on the company

So what exactly do you do all day?

 

[Gombrich12]

So you literally do nothing all day? How long do you think they are going to employ you at a good wage to watch netflix and surf the web all day? If I were you I'd be trying to help out however I could instead of being a non-entity in the back.

 

[wagrxm2000]

So you literally do nothing all day? How long do you think they are going to employ you at a good wage to watch netflix and surf the web all day? If I were you I'd be trying to help out however I could instead of being a non-entity in the back.

Yeah I'm with this guy.

I'd watch out before you are replaced

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

Sounds like it won't be long before they have RNs on deck instead. Lol

 

[rxkrafted]

Yeah once they realize that you don't do much all day, I can definitely see them cutting pay/hours or hiring a new grad a cheaper rate. Your experience in a dispensary won't be very marketable if you try to venture back out into other areas of pharmacy so itll be hard to find a non-dispensary job later on

 

[M0df]

Thank you for posting a follow up. Not many people actually do that here. It is good to know you found something better.

I don't have much to add and obviously you would know better since you are on the ground. As you can see, the sentiment here is that we are surprised your perceived workload is so little. In most businesses, you have to justify your salary.

I will add that in small business types or independents, they will not go through extensive write up process. They don't have as much red tape. They can let you go quickly and there is not often that job security as with bigger companies. And while you should appreciate improvement in your quality of life, you should also find a way to make yourself invaluable to this company.

 

[lord999]

Yeah I'm with this guy.

I'd watch out before you are replaced

That wouldn't be what I'd be worried about. Remember that your job isn't just to fill, it's to be responsible.

 

[JustFillIt]

So there are bud tenders.. are you the “bud master”?

Can you please share your hourly wage? I used to be a bud master myself in my teens/early twenties if you know what I mean...

 

[letsrun11]

What kind of company are you running? Would you say your business is your side or main?

 

[SoylentGreen]

Sounds great, but I assume they only hire you due to a legal requirement. As soon as that requirement is gone - and it probably will be - you'll be out of a job and good luck finding someone who wants to hire a pharmacist from a dispensary. Either your state will go recreational or they'll change the law since everybody knows you don't really need a pharmacist at a dispensary.

I would be somewhat tempted to take a job like that it if I were older and closer to retirement or less dependent on having an rph job. If I were like 60 I'd definitely do it.

 

[Pharmacy Kid]

for anyone interested in a pharmacist cannabis dispensary job this should be highly valuable. right now i work in a dispensary as one of the two pharmacists. me and my partner are the two pharmacists of the store. we work with patient consultants which are the "budtenders", these are most similar to pharmacy techs. they check in the customers and then ring them out when they make a purchase. the patient consultants do most of the work. really as a pharmacist here i have very little job responsibility, which brings me to my next point

this is probably the most chillest job i'll ever have. about 5% the stress level of retail, maybe even less than that. basically, i get my own office that i can chill in all day if i want to. i bring my chromebook from home and can use it while in my office. i have two job responsibilities. the first is verifying the certifications of each new patient that comes in. the second is being available for any consultations or questions that a patient may have. and that's pretty much my job. i rarely get consults, most of the time i get 0 in a whole day, at the most 1 or 2. really this is an extremely chill job. the first week i was kissing the floor, and i still kind of am. i can sit down all day, i get lunch breaks, and soooo much down time. the quality of life is 1000x better than retail by far. the only downside is the pay rate. i took a 25% decrease in my hourly pay rate. but i don't even care, it's 100% worth it. the quality of life is just too good. plus at my previous job i was guaranteed only 32 hours a week, whereas here i get 40 hours per week

overall this job is fantastic. it's a very chill and low key job. you have such low job responsibility. company culture is great, almost everyone is great, managers are very chill. what more can you ask for? you basically just need to be there and that's it, it's important to study a lot about cannabis before you start so you have a good foundation. but once you grasp the basics such as sativa vs indica, cbd&thc, dosage forms, terpenes, etc then you should be good. the depth of customer questions and consultations doesn't get too deep, which is great because you don't need to know very specific details. it can help if know though. but yeah the amount of knowledge you need is mostly foundation of cannabis. a lot of the info on cannabis isn't really backed by much data anyway so most of the time there is no "right" recommendation

in general though half of the time i'm doing whatever on my chromebook. i run a company as well so it's common for me to settle into my office in the morning and check up on the business. make sure my quickbooks are updated and monitoring my advertisements and profits for the day. it's like doing work while at work, and getting paid both ways

i feel very lucky and grateful to be in this position. just 1 year out of school and i've settled in a very cushiony position. allowing me to focus on my passions, my company, and other things. truly grateful

Is it chill because of the job or because of the second hand smoke 🤔

 

[Amphetamine Salts]

just to follow up: there really is not much to do all day. it's not just me either, the budtenders basically do nothing as well when we have a lot of down time. they would be surfing the web, chatting among themselves, etc. there is A LOT of downtime. there simply is just no work to do. you can't help out when there is basically nothing to help with, that is the scenario here

as far as being replaced, i don't think it would happen unless i became super unreliable or something. literally there is not much you need to do as a pharmacist, so someone competent is all you need. me and my partner are already the staff pharmacists for the store. it looks like we have a solid staying here as long as we don't **** up. now, when cannabis goes recreational in my state THEN i may be screwed. at that point the company may decide they don't need me anymore and go recreational. right now the law basically requires that i'm there. if that were to change, there's probly a good chance that i'd be out. i wonder how long will that be until that changes. for now though i'm doing pretty well

the pay is a little bit under 100k. very very solid for the quality of life that you get

 

[Amphetamine Salts]

What kind of company are you running? Would you say your business is your side or main?

i run an online store, right now it's side but it will be main within the coming months/year

 

[Pharmacy is a Scam]

for anyone interested in a pharmacist cannabis dispensary job this should be highly valuable. right now i work in a dispensary as one of the two pharmacists. me and my partner are the two pharmacists of the store. we work with patient consultants which are the "budtenders", these are most similar to pharmacy techs. they check in the customers and then ring them out when they make a purchase. the patient consultants do most of the work. really as a pharmacist here i have very little job responsibility, which brings me to my next point

this is probably the most chillest job i'll ever have. about 5% the stress level of retail, maybe even less than that. basically, i get my own office that i can chill in all day if i want to. i bring my chromebook from home and can use it while in my office. i have two job responsibilities. the first is verifying the certifications of each new patient that comes in. the second is being available for any consultations or questions that a patient may have. and that's pretty much my job. i rarely get consults, most of the time i get 0 in a whole day, at the most 1 or 2. really this is an extremely chill job. the first week i was kissing the floor, and i still kind of am. i can sit down all day, i get lunch breaks, and soooo much down time. the quality of life is 1000x better than retail by far. the only downside is the pay rate. i took a 25% decrease in my hourly pay rate. but i don't even care, it's 100% worth it. the quality of life is just too good. plus at my previous job i was guaranteed only 32 hours a week, whereas here i get 40 hours per week

overall this job is fantastic. it's a very chill and low key job. you have such low job responsibility. company culture is great, almost everyone is great, managers are very chill. what more can you ask for? you basically just need to be there and that's it, it's important to study a lot about cannabis before you start so you have a good foundation. but once you grasp the basics such as sativa vs indica, cbd&thc, dosage forms, terpenes, etc then you should be good. the depth of customer questions and consultations doesn't get too deep, which is great because you don't need to know very specific details. it can help if know though. but yeah the amount of knowledge you need is mostly foundation of cannabis. a lot of the info on cannabis isn't really backed by much data anyway so most of the time there is no "right" recommendation

in general though half of the time i'm doing whatever on my chromebook. i run a company as well so it's common for me to settle into my office in the morning and check up on the business. make sure my quickbooks are updated and monitoring my advertisements and profits for the day. it's like doing work while at work, and getting paid both ways

i feel very lucky and grateful to be in this position. just 1 year out of school and i've settled in a very cushiony position. allowing me to focus on my passions, my company, and other things. truly grateful

Enjoy it while it last because in a couple years they will be pushing you out in favor of new grads with the PharmD/MS Cannabis who will work more hours for less pay, just like they’re pushing out non-residency trained pharmacists for residency trained pharmacists for less pay in all setting types: MS in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics

 

[Lubeckd]

How is Canada scene?

 

[JustFillIt]

just to follow up: there really is not much to do all day. it's not just me either, the budtenders basically do nothing as well when we have a lot of down time. they would be surfing the web, chatting among themselves, etc. there is A LOT of downtime. there simply is just no work to do. you can't help out when there is basically nothing to help with, that is the scenario here

as far as being replaced, i don't think it would happen unless i became super unreliable or something. literally there is not much you need to do as a pharmacist, so someone competent is all you need. me and my partner are already the staff pharmacists for the store. it looks like we have a solid staying here as long as we don't **** up. now, when cannabis goes recreational in my state THEN i may be screwed. at that point the company may decide they don't need me anymore and go recreational. right now the law basically requires that i'm there. if that were to change, there's probly a good chance that i'd be out. i wonder how long will that be until that changes. for now though i'm doing pretty well

the pay is a little bit under 100k. very very solid for the quality of life that you get

Alright let’s get down to brass tax... you smoking that ****?

 

[BenJammin]

Dispensaries don't need a pharmacist lol

 

[Amphetamine Salts]

Alright let’s get down to brass tax... you smoking that ****?

everyone smokes here. the managers, the employees, the pharmacists, everyone

most people have their medical cards so they can purchase and smoke whenever. but yeah, when you're working with cannabis almost everyday it's hard to not smoke it lol

 

[BidingMyTime]

no i'm not required to have an intern

That isn't what he was asking. 🤣 He is asking you for a job, it doesn't have to be "required" for you to get him a job.

Dispensaries don't need a pharmacist lol

Minnesota and Connecticut state law require pharmacists for marijuana dispensaries. So at least in these 2 states, a pharmacist is "needed" to keep the place legal.

 

[JustFillIt]

everyone smokes here. the managers, the employees, the pharmacists, everyone

most people have their medical cards so they can purchase and smoke whenever. but yeah, when you're working with cannabis almost everyday it's hard to not smoke it lol. but yeah, a good summary would be that everyone here uses cannabis in some form

Haha! Diabolical....

Your the man now dawg!

 

[Lubeckd]

Haha! Diabolical....

Your the man now dawg!

Lol are you doing millennial jokes ok purpose? Lanauage evolves and people aren't here to evolve with it ahhaha

 

[Amphetamine Salts]

Dispensaries don't need a pharmacist lol

this is incorrect. certain states require a medical professional such as a pharmacist on site at all hours of operation. i can't actually leave and go home right at the end of my shift if a customer or two is still in the building shopping. literally no customers are allowed to be in the medicine room if i'm not in the building

 

[JustFillIt]

this is incorrect. certain states require a medical professional such as a pharmacist on site at all hours of operation. i can't actually leave and go home right at the end of my shift if a customer or two is still in the building shopping. literally no customers are allowed to be in the medicine room if i'm not in the building

The “medicine room” lol! We used to call that the hot box

 

[TerryTerry]

I don`t think you used the word 'chill' nearly enough in the original post

 

[910781]

So I guess you and others have a lot of downtime due to low number of customers at this point?

 

[Amphetamine Salts]

yes, basically downtime almost all the day. i worked yesterday 12 hours and today i'm in for another 12. right now i'm just in my office surfing the web and doing whatever on my chromebook. that's basically the job. rarely customers come in, during the afternoon it's basically dead for 3 hours straight

 

[Doctorishere12345]

You didn't answer my question from the previous post

how this works since federal considered marijuana as illegal and C-1 or it doesn't matter as long the state board is ok of dispense it??? Is there a conflict between federal n state?

 

[Amphetamine Salts]

You didn't answer my question from the previous post

how this works since federal considered marijuana as illegal and C-1 or it doesn't matter as long the state board is ok of dispense it??? Is there a conflict between federal n state?

it doesn't matter dude. what do you mean how does it work????

just go in, work, get paid

???

 

[Doctorishere12345]

it doesn't matter dude. what do you mean how does it work????

just go in, work, get paid

???

dude, if u don't know the answer, just said so.

Your job is so chill and easy that you have so much time to answer all questions.
Enjoy it while u still can. New grads will take your job one day. They can always pay someone less since it is an easy job. hahahahaha

 

[gwarm01]

My state has legal medical marijuana, recognizes it's use in many disease states, licenses healthcare providers to prescribe it, and will take your license away if you use it yourself. Seems hypocritical.

 

[DagS132]

I dont even understand how a dispensary needs a pharmacist.

 

[BenJammin]

Minnesota and Connecticut state law require pharmacists for marijuana dispensaries. So at least in these 2 states, a pharmacist is "needed" to keep the place legal.

this is incorrect. certain states require a medical professional such as a pharmacist on site at all hours of operation. i can't actually leave and go home right at the end of my shift if a customer or two is still in the building shopping. literally no customers are allowed to be in the medicine room if i'm not in the building

Let me clarify: Dispensaries don't need a pharmacist the same was a donut shop doesn't need a pharmacist.

 

[RxPreceptor]

My state has legal medical marijuana, recognizes it's use in many disease states, licenses healthcare providers to prescribe it, and will take your license away if you use it yourself. Seems hypocritical.

English..."therapeutic" vs. "recreational" and being a bit too liberal on the definition of therapeutic
#Marijuana "logic"

 

[RxPreceptor]

Let me clarify: Dispensaries don't need a pharmacist the same was a donut shop doesn't need a pharmacist.

Could not live with myself if I had to resort to a job that involved dispensing "magic" donuts, brownies, or other baked "magical" goods...just seems like a God damn joke/no way of taking anything seriously in the name of medicine/therapeutically appropriate

 

[firework]

Anyone who is concerned about his job security, he's paid $30/hr. As long as the law required a PharmD on site, he should be fine. I don't think the market will justify paying <$30/hr to someone with doctoral education and he has to be actually "busy". The new grad with student loans won't do it.

Finally some guy found a job with better working condition, and you are all saying a pharmacist doesn't deserve it.

 

[Amphetamine Salts]

Anyone who is concerned about his job security, he's paid $30/hr. As long as the law required a PharmD on site, he should be fine. I don't think the market will justify paying <$30/hr to someone with doctoral education and he has to be actually "busy". The new grad with student loans won't do it.

Finally some guy found a job with better working condition, and you are all saying a pharmacist doesn't deserve it.

can i report this post? i am paid much more than $30 an hour. you should get an infraction for making such ignorant and misleading statements

 

[Pharmacy Kid]

Anyone who is concerned about his job security, he's paid $30/hr. As long as the law required a PharmD on site, he should be fine. I don't think the market will justify paying <$30/hr to someone with doctoral education and he has to be actually "busy". The new grad with student loans won't do it.

Finally some guy found a job with better working condition, and you are all saying a pharmacist doesn't deserve it.

He said he gets paid just under $100,000.

 

[JustFillIt]

it doesn't matter dude. what do you mean how does it work????

just go in, work, get paid

???

Haha! Like a boss.. I like your style dude.

You might want to start applying your trade though. Come up with a line of pharmaceuticals - cannabis oil in a capsule, tablets, etc..

 

[JustFillIt]

dude, if u don't know the answer, just said so.

Your job is so chill and easy that you have so much time to answer all questions.
Enjoy it while u still can. New grads will take your job one day. They can always pay someone less since it is an easy job. hahahahaha

What’s so funny? Your just jelly....

You know what you turds sound like on every other post in this forum? It sounds like this:

Wooowooo blah blah moan “new grads” boohoo ipeedmypants “layoffs” crycry boohoo whaaaaa “student loans” blah blah blah blah “retail steamrolls me” boooooohoooo “too many pharmacy schools” mommy save me!

This guy is the bonafide Snoop Dog of pharmacy.. bow down

 

[PharmDBro2017]

Smokin indo sippin on gin and juice.... laid back.

Props for coming back and letting us know. Enjoy the new gig bro.

 

[Doctorishere12345]

What’s so funny? Your just jelly....

You know what you turds sound like on every other post in this forum? It sounds like this:

Wooowooo blah blah moan “new grads” boohoo ipeedmypants “layoffs” crycry boohoo whaaaaa “student loans” blah blah blah blah “retail steamrolls me” boooooohoooo ipoopedmypantstoo “too many pharmacy schools” mommy save me!

This guy is the bonafide Snoop Dog of pharmacy.. bow down

hahahaha. what's so funny? u sound dumb af.