After becoming the eleventh state to legalize adult-use cannabis, Illinois is about to experience an influx of jobs in the cannabis industry.

Retired Chief of Police John Love believes at least one of those new positions will be best suited for law enforcement officers.

In 2016, after Love retired from the police department in Sullivan (population 4,434), he searched for a part-time job to keep busy.

During a meeting with local law enforcement, Love was offered an opportunity that previously had not existed in central Illinois.

The part-time position was for a security guard at a licensed medical marijuana growing facility.

Love said representatives from the newly licensed Shelby County Community Services medical cannabis cultivation center had talked to the sheriff in Shelby County.

“The sheriff had a get-together meeting of law enforcement officers to talk about special cases,” Love said, “and he brought it up that there were going to be some openings (for a security guard), and if anyone was interested, to let him know.”

Love, who had been in law enforcement since 1981, applied and got the part-time job, which paid $21 an hour with no benefits.

He worked security inside the plant and also delivered cannabis to many of Illinois’ 55-licensed medical marijuana dispensaries.

He made approximately 40 to 50 deliveries before stepping aside.

Love stated the industry’s new security jobs are ideal for current and former law enforcement, as supplemental income or new careers, because Illinois police officers have of one major advantage.

Current and former Illinois law enforcement have the ability to carry a firearm legally anywhere in the state.

“As long as you are a former law enforcement officer,” Love said, “you can stay qualified to carry your firearm. For me, being retired, I have to qualify at least once a year to carry my firearm. It’s not a conceal-carry law. It’s strictly as a retired police officer in the state of Illinois.”

For Love, combining law enforcement with the sale of cannabis makes sense, stating that Illinois law enforcement is best suited to supply qualified security services for facilities in need of drivers.

Of course, Love is keenly aware of the critics, who were not afraid to personally question him about his delivery job.

“I had numerous people over my time working down there, say, ‘Hey, Johnny, wait a minute, didn’t you used to arrest people for marijuana?’ and I would explain to them, ‘Yes, I did, but this isn’t taking it to a street corner and selling it. This is taking it to a licensed secure facility that is dispensed by proper authorities.’”

Love described the delivery job as, “just driving all over the state of Illinois,” but during his stops, one particular experience stuck with him.

“At one dispensary I delivered to, there was a young child who had seizures all their life, every day, most their entire life,” Love said. “They eventually got on to the medical marijuana treatment for the seizures, and the last time I check at the dispensary when I was employed down there, the child had been seizure free for 60 days.”

This experience solidified Love’s beliefs about medical marijuana.

“If it helps just one child have a better a life,” he said, “to me—as long as they do the policy and procedures and security measures—it’s a fantastic thing.”

On Jan. 1, 2020, Illinois is poised to legalize adult-use cannabis—four years to the date after legalizing medical marijuana.

According the Illinois Medical Cannabis Pilot Program, dispensaries in the state pulled in $133 million in sales for 2018.

A study conducted by Colorado cannabis consulting firm, Freedman & Koski, concluded that the demand for a fully mature annual marijuana market for Illinois could range between $1.69 billion to $2.58 billion (though markets tend to take 2-3 years to fully mature).

The market increase from $133 million to a possible low-end $1.69 billion will create several new security positions in the industry, including drivers.

The study also estimates a yearly production of 350,000-550,000 pounds of dried cannabis that will have to be securely transported from the growing and manufacturing facilities to the dispensaries.