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FORTUNE.COM // MAY.1.
A LITTLE
STRESS CAN
BE GOOD
FOR YOU
HE ALTH
STRESS, says
psychologist and
author Lisa Damour,
“happens any time
humans are operating
at the edge of their
abilities.” This
includes doing new
things like taking
on a project, moving
into a house, and
welcoming a baby into
your life. Speaking
at FortuneÕs recent
Brainstorm Health
conference in San
Diego, Damour
compared stress to
weightlifting. Going
through it makes you
stronger. But you also
can’t be stressed all
the time, any more
than you can lift
weights continuously.
It’s important for
people to restore
themselves—to
de-stress, in other
words—and everyone
does that differently.
But the mistake is
to assume that just
because it hurts—
in the same way
rigorous exercise
hurts—it’s bad. Says
Damour: “If your life
is interesting at all,
you’re going to have
stress.”
—ADAM LASHINSKY
Making Green
Here’s what people actually get paid in the
high-growth industry of legal marijuana.
By Chris Morris
THE LEGAL MARIJUANA INDUSTRY is making
billions of dollars in sales and raising hun-
dreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue for states.
But how’s it working out financially for people who
work for companies that deal in cannabis?
Pretty well, it turns out.
The trade publication Marijuana Business
Magazine compiled a salary study and found that
average industry salaries are rising steadily. Re-
searchers looked at data from a number of staffing
sites and job boards and found that cannabis-themed
salaries grew more than 16% between August 2017
and August 2018. And the number of six-figure
positions is on the rise, potentially luring people with
more advanced degrees, which could continue to fuel
the salary escalation.
That said, cannabis compensation isn’t always
competitive with pay in other, straighter industries.
Fortune took a closer look at how those salaries stack
up against comparable jobs.
CEOs
$528,
∫ The average salary
of a cannabis company
CEO at one of the indus-
try’s five major firms
is over half a million
dollars ($285,113, if you
discount the $1.5 mil-
lion annual salary of
MedMen Enterprises’
Adam Bierman). Com-
pare that with the
national estimate for
CEOs of $196,050.
dispensary manager
$68,
∫ Running a cannabis
shop, whether medical
or recreational, means
keeping a close eye on
local laws. Still, the
salary is just over half
that of the average
pharmacist, who makes
$128,000 per year, per
Glassdoor.
edibles producer
$46,
∫ The Mary Berrys of
the weed world bring in
considerably less than
the average food pro-
duction manager, who
makes $68,000 per year.
budtender
$32,
∫ The person behind the
counter at a dispensary
acts as both a concierge
and a cashier. On aver-
age, a budtender earns
$6,000 less per year
than a New York City
bartender.
bud trimmer
$29,
∫ Trimming is an es-
sential step in harvest-
ing. It’s not an easy job,
but it doesn’t require
an advanced degree.
The position pays a
salary comparable to
farming jobs for those
with five to 10 years of
experience.
WEED
M
ARIJUANA: SPENCER LOW
ELL; DAM
OUR: STUART ISET T FOR FORTUNE
