The country is facing a pot labor shortage, now that the sale and cultivation of cannabis is legal.

Beleave Kannabis Corp. wants to grow more than just pot.

The Ontario marijuana company aims to build an empire of plant scientists, regulatory experts and security personnel in a nascent industry with exploding demand. But there’s a shortage of experienced staff members in Canada, which became the first industrialized country to fully decriminalize pot in October, said Beleave’s chief science officer, Roger Ferreira.

So Beleave, like dozens of other licensed producers, is pressing local universities for help.

“I’m going to pillage the top of your class,” Ferreira said. “All your 4.0 GPAs, send them this way.”

Nearly a dozen colleges nationwide are adding or expanding courses designed to train the next generation of marijuana producers, often at the nudging of area employers. Some of the classes count toward two- and four-year degrees. Other schools offer certificates.

Although the use of medical marijuana has been legal in Canada since 2001, the rise of recreational toking has fueled a hiring boom as growers rush to scale up production of smokable buds and oils. Openings have tripled over the past year and now represent 34 of every 10,000 job postings, according to Indeed Canada, an employment site. [Read More @ Washington Post]