For Jake Shriner, a desire to learn about all things Cannabis landed him a few different jobs in the industry. The knowledge he acquired along the way is something he wants to pass on to others.
Last year, he started the YouTube channel “Weeducation” with the goal of educating Cannabis users of all levels, backed by what he’s learned in his own experience as a patient and as a budtender. “I’ve always wanted to be like, ‘Here’s a YouTube channel or a playlist of videos that you can watch and this will catch you up so you know what you want.’ And then I can point you in the right direction,” the 31-year-old explained.
Jake’s Cannabis journey began in high school after being introduced to the plant through his older brother, after which he said, “It was off to the races.” Also suffering from anxiety, Cannabis was his go-to for “self treatment” until receiving an official diagnosis from his doctor in 2017. This led to his first medical card and ushered in an era of access to higher quality Cannabis – as well as conversations with budtenders and others in the industry who were familiar with treating anxiety with different strains.
The dispensary he visited, Mana, was big on educating their patients about terpenes. After being guided to what he needed fairly quickly, he started studying them on his own. “It kind of became my other love,” said Jake. He became a regular customer at Mana and eventually began working there after some of the staff encouraged him to apply. There, he said every day was “kind of like an open-book quiz,” as he would refer to his notes and fellow budtenders to help his own patients.
“My notes grew from when I got my card,” he said. “Instead of just a couple minutes a day picking up my stash, I was able to stand there with the other budtenders and talk for like an hour or two or even longer, because we were there all day.”
The idea for the YouTube channel also came while he was working at Mana, but with the demand of his job, he didn’t think it would be something he ever started. “You know that group of friends that are like ‘Let’s start a band!’ – and then you never actually start a band with them? I thought it would be something like that,” he said. “Then one day I was just bored and said ‘Screw it.’”
While his channel mainly consists of educational videos and product reviews, Jake said he decided he wanted to make “fun challenge” videos to mix in with his other content. He collaborated with his friends in “The Hot or Not Show” (another Maryland-based YouTube channel) to make a medicated hot sauce and host a hot wing challenge. This channel also inspired how he creates his videos, singling out the editing of the show and the use of B-roll footage.
To help stay creative and focused, Jake gravitates towards strains high in terpinolene, which he describes as “fruity and floral” and will also be the first terpene featured in a planned “Terp of the Month” video series. Jake also fills his days working as a lab technician at a Cannabis facility on the Eastern Shore. While he felt the need to branch out from selling the product, he found his new job doesn’t require much of the knowledge he learned as a budtender. “I only use any of my terpene knowledge and stuff of that nature if a coworker asks,” he said.
In addition to his current job and running his YouTube channel, Jake is also an active musician in the Maryland music scene, currently playing with singer-songwriter Pat Renny. His passion for music goes hand in hand with his passion for Cannabis.
“It helps me to be able to be creative when I feel like it, and helps me to not be in my head when I want to be in the moment,” he said.
To Jake, the goal for “Weeducation” is simple: for people to use it as a reference.
“I want it to be something that people use to educate themselves, their friends, their family,” he said. “It’s a passion project … I did it because I wanted something like that when I was a budtender.”
