Stefania Zilinskas knows she’s made an “incredibly risky” move.

The 34-year-old left her job as a securities lawyer at Blakes, Cassels and Graydon LLP in July after a five year tenure and a path to partnership. But Zilinskas says she gave up the chance to climb to the top of one of Canada’s biggest law firms to take a role in the fast-moving cannabis industry, joining Tidal Royalty Corp., a Toronto-based marijuana financing company, as its general counsel.

“I was very happy at [Blakes]. I could have seen myself there for years and years,” Zilinskas said in a phone interview with BNN Bloomberg.

“It’s really exciting to be in a completely new industry… I believe in the legalization of cannabis and the cultural and legal shifts that need to go along with that.”

Zilinskas is just one of many employees the burgeoning cannabis sector has poached from established industries in Canada as the country prepares to legalize the drug on Oct. 17. The chance to work in an entirely new industry, the demand to fill positions and the opportunity to join firms with skyrocketing valuations is drawing many to the sector.

The marijuana sector will create roughly 120,000 jobs across Canada after the first year of legalization, according to Alison McMahon, founder and CEO of human resources firm Cannabis at Work, in a phone interview with BNN Bloomberg. [Read more @BNN Bloomberg]