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Updated: October 28, 2019

As CT’s medical marijuana industry grows, finding, training workers creates challenges, opportunities

HBJ Photos | Steve Laschever (From left) Christine Brevigleiri, Nicole Leja and Tim Granhan, of Curaleaf Connecticut in Simsbury, are trailblazing new careers in Connecticut’s medical marijuana industry.
By Joe Cooper

Tim Granhan is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business, but he’s not seeking a job in insurance or advanced manufacturing — two industry stalwarts in Connecticut.

Instead, the 44-year-old former nurse is hoping to move up the ladder with his current employer: Curaleaf Connecticut, one of the state’s four licensed medical marijuana growing businesses, which he joined this summer as a packaging specialist.

Granhan, an Enfield native, said he sees major growth opportunities working for the Massachusetts-based marijuana giant, which plans to expand its workforce at a larger, 60,000-square-foot production facility on Hopmeadow Street in Simsbury by year-end.

“I’ve been fortunate to come to this company where it’s still early in its lifespan,” said Granhan, a medical marijuana patient who previously worked as a nurse at a variety of minimum- and maximum-security prisons. “As the company is growing, I think there are going to be many opportunities in sales, marketing and quality control to make sure we have the perfect product going out. So, I’m having an incredible opportunity to cross train in a lot of different areas.”

Granhan is one of many workers testing new career opportunities in Connecticut’s six-year-old medical marijuana industry, a nascent but growing sector that is trying to find and train a workforce largely unfamiliar to the state.

There are currently 3,290 cannabis-related jobs in Connecticut in retail, cultivation, processing, manufacturing, testing, wholesale and distribution, according to New Frontier, an industry research firm. The state has 15 retail dispensaries and four growing facilities.

By 2025, the state is expected to employ more than 6,300 cannabis workers, as production facilities and dispensaries see more demand from a steadily growing patient population. Federal or state adoption of recreational marijuana would fuel additional production and dispensary jobs.

Gov. Ned Lamont recently said he will consider a regional approach with New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania to legalize recreational pot.

In response to the industry’s projected growth, UConn this year adopted the nation’s first cannabis-growing course to prepare students for a variety of industry jobs in Connecticut and elsewhere related to cultivation, processing, sales, manufacturing, testing and distribution.

UConn plant scientist Gerold Berkowitz said 400 students from just about every major registered for the inaugural class this year, an indication of strong interest in the field. The school has since limited course enrollment to juniors and seniors.

Berkowitz said students — some of whom have already scored industry jobs in Massachusetts, where recreational pot was legalized in 2018 — are especially interested in obtaining jobs in growing and oil extractions.

Those job opportunities excite Granhan, who has no specialized training or previous experience in the cannabis industry.

“I’m still trying to figure out where I’m headed,” said Granhan, who is pursuing his associate degree in business from the University of Southern New Hampshire online before eventually obtaining a bachelor’s. “It’s exciting to just go with the flow and see how things are developing.”

Curaleaf Connecticut is relocating its current operations at 100 Grist Mill in Simsbury (shown above) to a 60,000-square-foot facility on Hopmeadow Street.

Growing industry

The nearly $20 billion U.S. marijuana industry has grown significantly since Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize the plant for recreational use in 2012.

Today, 11 states have legalized marijuana for recreational purposes, and 33 states allow its use for medicinal purposes. The drug remains illegal under federal law even if states allow it.

There are more than 200,000 U.S. jobs in the industry at dispensaries, growing facilities, hydroponic stores, patient identification centers, and other retailers, according to the Cannabis Trade Federation (CTF), a national coalition that represents Curaleaf Connecticut.

CTF projects the industry will employ up to 475,000 workers by 2023.

CTF CEO Neal Levine said the marijuana sector will become the next major American industry to employ millions of workers.

But finding workers to fill those jobs remains a big challenge.

Nicole Leja, president of Curaleaf Connecticut, is on the frontlines of developing that workforce.

Leja has already hired a handful of drivers and packaging and cultivation workers since succeeding Greg Schaan, a 38-year veteran of the agriculture industry, as Curaleaf Connecticut’s president in the last year. (Schaan now serves as Curaleaf’s senior vice president of cultivation.)

Curaleaf Connecticut currently has 48 employees and is gradually increasing its workforce as demand for its products grows, thanks to more patients joining the state’s medical marijuana program.

More than 37,400 residents now qualify for Connecticut’s medical marijuana program, which has 36 approved conditions for adults ranging from treating Tourette syndrome to Crohn’s disease. That’s up dramatically from the 1,684 patients who qualified for the drug when state regulators named Curaleaf among four licensed pot growing businesses in early 2014.

Thousands of additional patients could be added in the coming years if chronic pain is added as a condition in the program, which is overseen by the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection.

Curaleaf is spending the fall moving to a larger leased building on Hopmeadow Street in Simsbury.

Leja, who spent two decades in the environmental analytical field, is unsure how many new employees will be added to the larger site, which will allow the company to double its lab capacity. Meantime, some employees will be taking on new roles at the facility as an automated irrigation system eliminates certain jobs from those currently hand watering or feeding plants.

Curaleaf relies on its Wakefield, Mass., corporate office to assist in job recruiting for leading positions in compliance and growing, and has human-resources personnel in Simsbury helping to hire packaging specialists, cultivators and other entry-level positions.

“We have found there is a lot of interest in joining this industry,” she said. “I don’t think it’s any more difficult than hiring in other industries, based on my prior experiences.”

Pictured are Curaleaf Connecticut employees (from left to right) Ted Friedeberg Jr., Christine Brevigleiri, Nicole Leja, Tim Granhan and Luca Boldrini.

Job seekers

Curaleaf Connecticut, like other production facilities, has steadily built a diverse workforce in terms of age and educational experience.

Christine Brevigleiri, a sales and manufacturing coordinator, is one of several Millennial Curaleaf employees with no prior experience in the marijuana industry.

The 33-year-old Canton resident spent time in trade and massage-therapy school, and held various jobs at restaurants and at an aerospace company before joining Curaleaf in 2016.

Brevigleiri’s roles have changed dramatically over the last three years as the company and her skill set evolve. She previously worked in harvesting and packaging before taking on a larger role coordinating deliveries to the state’s 15 dispensaries with a number of other department heads.

Brevigleiri said she’s been successful in adapting to new tasks, and wants to continue pursuing new roles in manufacturing. The process, she said, is made easier because Curaleaf offers unlimited training opportunities.

“I think there has to be some sense of adventure to enter into the industry right now, kind of wanting to see what other people don’t get to see or do. That part is fun,” she said. “If you’re open-minded, the training is there to grow.”

Granhan also sees value in the exclusivity awarded to workers in the industry.

“These are all the pioneers and the problem-solvers,” he said. “These are the people when the industry was first getting going, they said ‘I want to be a part of it.’ ”

Pot workers must be cleared by DCP

Applicants seeking employment in the state’s medical marijuana industry must first pass a criminal background check administered by the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection (DCP), which oversees the program, before they can land a job.

Generally, people with previous drug charges will not pass a background check, which is overseen by DCP’s five-member drug-control staff, according to Lora Rae Anderson, an agency spokeswoman.

Meantime, Anderson said marijuana producers and dispensaries are required to inform DCP if one of their employees has been arrested on criminal drug charges. DCP has not yet revoked anyone’s license, she said.

“These are good, high-quality jobs,” Anderson said. “It’s a really good medical program that helps patients who are sick, but it’s also providing good places to work.”

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