Benzinga - by Maureen Meehan, Benzinga Editor.
The Stargazer Cannabis Festival is gearing up for its inaugural three-day run at southern Ohio's Wisteria Campground.
As Ohio embraces its first full year of legal recreational marijuana, the festival will feature a unique joint-rolling contest on July 27. Event organizer Chad Thompson announced plans to hire multiple experienced judges for which they're paying a hefty wage of $100 an hour.
"There's two divisions, a classic division and artistic division," said Thompson who launched the job posting online late Monday. "And in both of those divisions, one of the criteria is, ‘How does it smoke?' The potential smokability."
The classic division will focus on traditional joints, while the artistic division will showcase creatively shaped joints resembling tanks, cars and birds, reported NBC4.com.
"We're going to be checking for the draw of the joint and the joint stability, like checking for runs and so forth and all that's going to go into the judging process," Thompson said. "And we're hoping that the pay will be enough to get a large pool of potential candidates. We are paying $100 an hour, you know, to just smoke joints."
That hourly rate won't be for a short span either, according to Thompson. He estimated the judging would take "a couple hours, if not more," and for that reason the applicants need to be experienced beyond casual users.
"If they're somebody who smokes maybe once a month, maybe they might not be the best person," Thompson said. "But you know, if they're a pretty regular smoker, I think they'll be able to handle it."
Thompson clarified that no vendors at the festival will sell recreational marijuana. Instead, a farmer's market will offer primarily hemp-derived products.
However, the festival will feature other forms of recreational marijuana. Vendors can sell cannabis seeds, which are legal federally and can be used by Ohioans to grow up to six plants under state law.
Festival-goers are also permitted to use their homegrown marijuana at the campgrounds, including in the joint-rolling contest.
"It would be completely legal to use homegrown cannabis," Thompson said. "Attendees may roll joints with hemp or cannabis; we won't be asking."
No doubt Ohio will be on the agenda at the upcoming Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Chicago this Oct. 8-9. Join us to get more insight into what the wave of weed legalization means for the future of the industry. Hear directly from top executives, investors, advocates and policymakers. Get your tickets now before prices surge by following this link.
Now read: Buy Weed At California State Fair, This Summer Includes Consumption A Lounge And Expanded Cannabis Competition
Photo: Gina Coleman/Weedmaps
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