Phil Spruell applies a non-chemical pesticide to cannabis plants at the Illicit Gardens production facility in Independence, Missouri, on March 18, 2023.Phil Spruell applies a non-chemical pesticide to cannabis plants at the Illicit Gardens production facility in Independence, Missouri, on March 18, 2023.The cannabis market in the United States has exploded in recent years, with total retail sales from medicinal and recreational marijuana projected to exceed.
Concerns about air quality were among the issues that led workers at Sinse Cannabis to begin organizing. “You’re dealing with so much plant matter in the air,” said Scotti Iman, a former post-harvest worker at Sinse Cannabis. He toldthat he and other colleagues sometimes experienced symptoms of allergies or asthma on the job. “Air quality was definitely something we were concerned about,” he said.
“They say that we are farmers, and our part of the job is farming, but I still, to this day, have not touched any soil,” Braddum told. “I’ve never put any water on anything. I’ve never even turned on or off a light in a room with living plants in it.”