New drug job niche: Budtenders

Here's a job title that didn't exist around here a couple of years ago: budtender.

That would be the person helping a medical marijuana patient select the proper strain to treat his or her ailment. It's a job that requires a mix of mundane skills such using a cash register and making change, a little science nerdism to talk about the brain's cannabinoid receptors and the like, a familiarity with terms such as "couch lock" (since stoner descriptives can creep into a serious medical discussion), a passing knowledge of agronomy to explain hybrid strains, empathy, good communications skills, and generally -- assuming the budtender has a medical marijuana card -- some firsthand knowledge.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given the latter continuing education aspect, it's a job much in demand.

"Hundreds of people come in here and want a job," says Jan Cole, owner of GreenLeaf Farm, a dispensary in downtown Boulder, she says, and then amends it to about a hundred. Cole budtends herself and has hired five or six budtenders, often former patients, whose knowledge on the subject impressed her.