Maximum Yield Cannabis USA February/March 2018 | Page 26

grow
“ CANNABIS BUSINESSES cannot just place
a help-wanted sign on their storefront windows
and hire the first able-bodied individuals that
come in looking to fill the positions. ”
BANKING CHALLENGES
Due to restrictions from the banking and lending
industries, many legitimate cannabis transactions need to
be handled in cash only. This represents its own forms of
scrutiny due to its challenges in bookkeeping, storage, and
transport. Cannabis-related businesses are not eligible
for protection under the bankruptcy laws that shield
other enterprises from creditors or allow for a structured
settlement of debts.
Loans and the services of traditional lending agencies
are also not currently available to cannabis entrepreneurs
that wish to expand their businesses. To get the necessary
funding to purchase infrastructure and equipment that
would aid in scaling up their respective businesses,
marijuana entrepreneurs must find private or “hard-
money” sources, often being charged near-usurious rates.
STAFFING CHALLENGES
As marijuana-related businesses seek to get larger, this
often entails hiring additional staff. However, finding
skilled individuals to grow, harvest, process, and otherwise
handle cannabis or cannabis-derived products is
challenging. Depending on the state, training, certification,
and licensing is a requirement and an additional expense
that needs to be borne. Cannabis businesses cannot just
place a help-wanted sign on their storefront windows and
hire the first able-bodied individuals that come in looking
to fill the positions. Also, they need to weed out those job-
seekers that are looking to get into the business because
they think they will have easy access to marijuana.
Cannabis businesses looking to scale up face plenty
of challenges. Thankfully, these challenges are not
insurmountable and some of these issues are likely to be
smoothed out in the coming years as cannabis continues to
be accepted, decriminalized, and legalized.
Chris Bond is the manager of the McKay Farm and Research
Station at Unity College in Maine. His research interests are with
sustainable agriculture, biological pest control as well as alterna-
tive growing methods. He is a certified permaculture designer
and certified nursery technician in Ohio and a certified nursery
professional in New York, where he got his start in growing.
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