Today, the 28-year-old preaches the importance of measuring how “fragrant terpenes” (pungent, oily compounds secreted by the plant) affect the “analgesic power” (pain-relieving benefits) of cannabis. “I saw that it was booming, that it was growing,” he said.īefore he opened a testing lab in Upland, Jake Bhattacharya didn’t notice the lack of labels on marijuana products he consumed. Yoon had no qualms about venturing into the business despite its stigma. He intends to open a large distribution warehouse in Los Angeles and convert the San Bernardino “lab” into a “teaching facility” for people wanting to see how the extraction process works.
Yoon, a clean-shaven man who still looks like a college kid, is making plans to expand. Since January, he said, Xtractor Depot has netted $1 million in sales.
Five months later, he operates with five employees recruited from the circle of friends he met in college. “They’ll come in here and buy just one metal fitting.” Yoon said some customers purchase complete systems for extracting active ingredients of cannabis, which are made into liquid tinctures, lotions, salves and edibles. There are chemistry-like glass tubes and spinning machines, and rows of stainless steel solvent tanks. “It looks like a lab,” Yoon said, in an interview Friday at his Xtractor Depot shop in San Bernardino. “It helped her with the nausea, with sleeping,” Yoon said.Ī believer in marijuana’s usefulness as a medicinal tool and convinced the industry has a bright future, Yoon started up an extraction-equipment supply business in January. Then he tried marijuana recreationally, and persuaded his mother to use it medicinally to aid her successful battle against ovarian cancer. “I thought weed was so bad until I was 18, 19.” Meet Andrew Yoon, a 24-year-old Corona man who moved to the area from St. Here are stories from a diverse group of locals willing to speak publicly - some for the first time - about what it’s like to work in Southern California’s legal marijuana industry. “It’s our God-given right as human beings on this planet to be compassionate towards other people,” he said. He speaks passionately about its potential to ease the pain and discomfort of people suffering from cancer, AIDS and other debilitating ailments. “Why not have a reputation as savior?”įunxta has been working to develop useful strains of cannabis for years. “The county already has a reputation for murder,” he said. He said the industry has the potential to create good jobs in a two-county region that has lower incomes and has recovered more slowly from recession than coastal communities.įunxta suggested it could even refresh San Bernardino’s not-so-flattering image. “I think in the next five to 10 years, it’s going to be huge.”Įddie Funxta, a geneticist/breeder who lives in Banning, said the growth boom around the corner could be particularly huge for Inland Southern California. But I think this presents an opportunity for a lot of jobs, provided that people do it right,” Murphy said. “There are still a lot of kinks that are being worked out. However, she sees it as less of an issue as the industry becomes more mainstream and as millennials transform the workforce. Murphy expects it would raise eyebrows for more traditional employers to see a weed industry job on someone’s resume. Of course there is a stigma,” said Juliet Murphy, a career coach who runs Juliet Murphy Career Development in Tustin. Fear of backlash from conservative family members or future business associates kept several cannabis workers from speaking on the record for this report. Then there’s the glaring disapproval that comes from shrinking (per the polls) but vocal pockets of the public.
It remains illegal at the federal level, which limits access to financial services and causes lingering concerns over raids by federal authorities.Ĭalifornia’s market is emerging from two decades of nearly nonexistent regulation and intense battles with local governments who were less than welcoming to “potrepreneurs.” That legacy means newly licensed shops often still rely on growers and manufacturers in the gray market, and they struggle to survive alongside unlicensed operators who aren’t paying the same hefty taxes. Working in the industry isn’t without complications. A recent post on was for a $75,000-a-year account manager at GFarmaLabs, which makes marijuana products in Anaheim, and one on for growers and trimmers at Buds & Roses dispensary in Los Angeles. Job seekers and employers instead turn to Craigslist or specialized sites. And several recruitment firms said they don’t deal with the industry. California’s Employment Development Department doesn’t track the diverse daisy chain of cannabis jobs.