Papers, A Rolling Guide to the Business of Cannabis. The End of Prohibition | Issue 2

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Alison McMahon Cannabis At Work

Tell us about Cannabis At Work. What do you do? Cannabis At Work is Canada’s only recruitment, training and HR consulting firm focused exclusively on the cannabis industry. Since 2015, our mission has been to elevate the conversation around working in the cannabis industry by helping people prepare for a career in this sector and connecting employers to qualified individuals. Tell us your start-up story; when and how did you get into the cannabis sector? In 2015, I was exiting from a HR technology start-up I had co-founded. It was around the same time that I started seeing a lot of content on cannabis — news, documentaries, and Trudeau was running on the campaign promise of legalizing cannabis. I could see the business opportunity and it was also an HR issue without a lot of precedent. It was just the type of meaty, undefined HR issue that I was looking to dig my teeth into. So I started delivering 12

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education to employers on cannabis legalization and drug policy. Our services quickly evolved to recruitment, training and HR consulting services for the cannabis industry. What’s ahead for the cannabis industry? I think it will be fascinating to see the categories of business that will emerge out of the implementation of the Cannabis Act. I’m also really excited to see consumer demand in action — the products and brands that consumers gravitate to. I think the product mix will have to evolve quickly to meet the new consumer market, and I’m excited to see the response from new and existing businesses — and the regulator — to these buying patterns. It’s hard to believe that the learning and growth curve could get steeper, but I think it will. Fun times ahead!


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