(Editor's note: This is the third piece in a six-part series on Oakland Local on the business of marijuana.)

In the current economy, financial incentives alone are sufficiently enticing to make many people consider a career change. Though the initial cost of indoor lamps, wiring, fertilizer, soil and fans can add up, start-up costs pale in comparison with most small businesses. Depending on the size of the operation, growers can spend several hundred to several thousand dollars to create suitable conditions for healthy plants. Once operational, however, it costs as little as a couple hundred dollars per pound of premium product.

(Editor's note: This is the first piece in a six-part series on Oakland Local on the business of marijuana.)

Now that the tax and regulate cannabis initiative is officially on the November ballot, California may become the first state in the nation to legalize the recreational use of marijuana by adults.

In Oakland and other parts of Northern California, pot is already widely accessible, fueled by an explosion of medical marijuana dispensaries and a grey-market growing system that means medical marijuana and related businesses are booming.

Marijuana medical dispensaries such as Harborside Health Center and schools such as Oaksterdam University are not only bringing in a wide base of customers -- they’re creating the models for others to follow in the growing cannabis economy.