Are you experienced? Lloydminster marijuana retailer looking for 'qualified' workers

Although employee positions have not yet been posted for Beleave Inc.'s first dab into marijuana retailing, there are some general things the company will belooking for in prospective employees when it opens its shop in Lloydminster, Sask., later this year.

Knowledge of cannabis and cannabis accessories is an asset but not required, according to Grant McLeod, senior vice-president of regulatory affairs and general counsel for the company.

"A lot of the interactions at the beginning for some consumers is really going to be an educational component," McLeod said.

"Sounderstanding what the different strains are, what's a cannabinoid, what the THC levels do, what CBD is, what's a terpene, and how to match that with the potential experience or the flavour that you're looking for."

Terpenes are compounds that exist in cannabis and other plants. In addition to determining the aroma of a cannabis strain, they can shape the effect ithas on the user.

Compounds such as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) also determine the effect.

"I honestly didn't know the difference between some of these things up until a couple of years ago, when more information was becoming available,"McLeodsaid.

"I never understood the difference or never even recognized the difference betweensativasandindicas I didn't know what aterpeneprofile was."

BeleaveInc. was the recipient of one of the two pot permits the Saskatchewan government allocated for the city of Lloydminster. Fifty-one permits were handed out in a provincial lottery earlier this year.

The company will hire locally rather than parachute company workers in from elsewhere, McLeodsaid.

Customer relations and the ability to learn will be considered and training will be provided, along with provincially mandated programs required for cannabis retail workers.

The company will operate out of a 2,000-square-foot space "located on a main road that runs through the heart of the city," according to a press release.

Recreational marijuana use will be legalized on Oct. 17. The company says the retail store will be ready for business sometime this fall.