Andrew Ward - Cannabis Jobs: How to Make a Living and Have a Career in the World of Legalized Marijuana

Copyright 2019 by Andrew Ward

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Qualcom

Cover photo credit:iStockPhoto.com

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-4951-1

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-4952-8

Printed in the United States of America

To my family and friends who made this possible: Mom, Dad, Hobbes, Grandmom, Jamie, Gab, Oliver, and Delly in particular.

Thanks to my detractors as well.

The cannabis industry is booming and constantly evolving. So much so that some figures in this book could flip upside down by the time you are reading this.. In the United States and across the globe, a growing number of participants are entering the cannabis marketplace. Uruguay and Canada have legalized adult-use consumption, while 33 US states have some form of cannabis legislation as of August 2019. Additionally, countries in every continent have made some steps toward legalizing the plant.

January 2019 analysis of legal cannabis markets by BDS Analytics and The Arcview Group found that worldwide spending is expected to grow 39.1 percent in 2019, totaling $17 billion. This figure is attributed to the growth of the US market, as well as the number of adults consuming cannabis products.

In all, copious amounts of opportunities exist for job seekers and entrepreneurs alike. For some time, industry insiders knew that much of the worlds job functions could be replicated in the cannabis space. Now, that possibility has come to fruition. Now it is expanding past these functions as the technology and needs of the industry increase.

While this book will delve extensively into the US markets, it would be a mistake not to recognize the emergence of foreign markets where cannabis interest and careers are also beginning to develop. Marijuana Business Dailys Countries to Watch report delved into legalization around the world. It identified some countries where business opportunities are taking shape in legalized markets and others that may do so in the near future. They include:

• Australia
• Canada
• Chile
• Colombia
• Germany
• Israel
• Jamaica
• Lesotho
• Portugal

Our neighbor to the North is a particularly intriguing prospect. While Uruguay was the first country to legalize cannabis sales, it limited its offerings to citizens and through pharmacy sales. On the other hand, Canadas entrance into the cannabis market was for recreational consumption and sales purposes. Doing so was meant to provide access to citizens and stave off illicit market activity. However, its one-year ban on popular concentrates and edibles does pose a hurdle in achieving such goals.

Beginning sales on October 17, 2018, the country opened its marketplace to the masses. Professional consulting firm Deloittes 2018 Canada Cannabis report expects legal sales to generate $4.34 billion in its first year of operations. With such a buzzing market, Deloitte expects Canada to reap the benefits of what some US states have begun to experience. The company explained in its report that, What is certain is that legalization will open the doors to a dynamic, sophisticated industry that will create new jobs, new opportunities for businesses, and new revenues for government. The market should grow even more when edibles, vape cartridges, and topicals are legalized on October 18, 2019.

Opportunity could come soon enough for Mexico as well. While its laws can be complicated, judicial precedence has been set recently regarding key cannabis legislation. The key statute concerned the prohibition of recreational cannabis consumption. After the Mexican Supreme Court came to this decision on a fifth case, the ruling became precedence for the lower courts. Though the countrys laws may halt the progress of the bill to some degree, investors from major companies abroad have made investments, including through mergers and acquisitions, in Mexicos cannabis companies.

Meanwhile, the United States continues to expand its cannabis access on the state level. Currently 11 allow for recreational, also known as adult use, consumption in the state. Meanwhile, an additional thirty-three allow for qualified patients to use cannabis as part of their treatment regimen.

With access growing, so has the industry. Businesses and career opportunities are popping up across the country thanks to a booming market. A report from Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics projected that the legal American cannabis market could reach $23 billion in consumer spending by 2022. By that time, the market could produce more than 467,000 jobs.

That said, US job seekers do not have to wait until 2022 to see a career boom in the industry. A 2019 jobs report from Leafly found that the cannabis market currently provides 211,000 Americans with careers. These roles include all the types of producers, cultivators, processors, and others who work directly with the plant.

The report also noted the boom in cannabis careers occurring in indirect or ancillary jobs. In some circles, these roles are referred to as not touching the plant types of jobs and sectors. They, too, represent a significant boom in the industry.

Leafly reported, When indirect and ancillary jobsthink of all the lawyers, accountants, security consultants, media companies, and marketing firms that service the cannabis industryare added, along with induced jobs (local community jobs supported by the spending of cannabis industry paychecks), the total number of full-time American jobs that depend on legal cannabis rises to a whopping 296,000. In 2018, the industry added nearly 65,000 jobs in the US alone.

A January 2019 report by job search and review platform Glassdoor.com revealed staggeringly positive job figures across the board. Comparing listings on its own site, Glassdoor.com recorded 1,512 cannabis job postings in December 2018. The year prior saw only 857 cannabis career listings on the siterepresenting a 76 percent jump year-over-year.

Of the job listings recorded, 53 percent of the postings were for professional and technical workers. As the reports key findings note, Market trends are driving increased demand for a wide variety of skills and backgrounds from marketing to plant sciences to accounting.