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Since weed was legalized last fall, many Canadians may fancy themselves as cannabis connoisseurs. As of Monday, Edmonton’s Amanda Bladon can put the title on a business card.

Bladon was one of eight Canadians hired by Toronto-based company AHLOT to sample and evaluate different strains of cannabis and get paid to do so.

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“I’m kind of in dream-job land right now,” Bladon said Monday, her first day of a year-long contract as a cannabis connoisseur. “I just thought the opportunity sounded a little bit too good to be true and I’m a bit of a risk taker so I figured why not throw my name in the pile and let’s see what happens.”

The 31-year-old was picked from about 25,000 Canadians who applied last fall for one of five positions on AHLOT’s cannabis curation committee with the task of curating pot sample packs made up of several different strains.

Legal cannabis took Edmonton by storm last October with lines wrapping around shopping centres for weeks with smokers eager to step foot into new retail stores. The overwhelming demand combined with a production backlog spurred a supply shortage, forcing the province to freeze new retail licences.