14 April 17th-April 23rd, 2025 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | name meant you get to work with the plants or with the weed,” said Rumin Tehrani, who has worked in cannabis production for six years, “but that just means you’re like working in the store at the counter, you know?”) While plenty of budtenders have deep knowledge about the products they sell, Gunnigle suggests Arizona adopt a new position to fill the role many used to expect budtenders to play — cannabis nurses. Nurses who are certified as cannabis specialists are gaining popularity across the country, Gunnigle said. Notably, the American Cannabis Nurses Association is an affiliate of the American Nurses Association and is working to get serious about credentialing cannabis nurses. “If you want to go one step further and have somebody who really understands the nuances of dosing or the concentration of (Rick Simpson Oil),” Gunnigle said, “you want a cannabis nurse.” WHAT SHOULD BE DONE? Short of an industry-wide investment in cannabis nurses, many in the weed business think the solution to the dimin- ishing quality of budtenders must come from employers. To be sure, plenty of entry-level budtenders advance to higher jobs. Victoria Zarod was hired as a budtender by Curaleaf at its Pavillions store on 83rd Avenue and McDowell Road after gradu- ating from ASU with a fashion degree. She was promoted to a managerial position after eight months. “Once you realize how much more you can grow within a company like Curaleaf, they encourage you to keep expanding your opportunities and such,” she said. But when budtenders change all the time, expertise is hard to retain. Some budtenders stay in the position for years, while others might leave between six months and a year after starting. “I have the longevity of budtenders probably more than any other dispensary in this state. I have people that have been with me since we opened the doors — and they are still budtenders,” Hicks said. “They make friends with these customers. They gain knowledge of what these people like and can offer some real comfort to people. I think it helps my business to have the same faces in place.” Gunnigle said more investment in the workforce will inevitably improve the customer experience. “Having skilled workers you’ve invested in absolutely helps consumers, and — we’re hoping — will help dispensaries’ bottom lines,” Gunnigle said. “We want folks to stay long-term in these positions.” To Drake Ridge, a spokesperson for United Food & Commercial Workers Local 99, which represents cannabis workers, that also means union recognition. Three dispensaries — Sunday Goods in Tempe, Zen Leaf Chandler and Zen Leaf Local Joint — now have union contracts. Weed companies haven’t exactly embraced unionization, though. Curaleaf currently faces an unfair labor practices complaint filed by the union over the firing of Fredrickson two days before an April 20 picket last year. If more shops unionized, Ridge said, weed workers and weed buyers alike would be better off. “The best thing consumers can do is support dispensaries that treat their workers fairly and pay them a living wage,” Ridge said. “We hope that companies are responsive to the needs and requests of their budtenders, because the budtender- customer relationship is what has allowed this industry to become one of the fast- growing, most profitable industries in Arizona.” Simonson also feels that the long-time budtenders have been critical to taking the Arizona cannabis industry from fringe business to mainstream cash cow. “We’ve built the system as we know it,” he said. “It was our money, our enthusiasm and our activism that created it.” A dispensary that wants to keep its clientele — and attract a larger one — would do well to remember that. You’re Highered from p 12 As the cannabis industry has grown in Arizona, so too has the push to unionize dispensaries. (Katya Schwenk)
