How many jobs has the legal cannabis industry generated in the USA?

Currently, 122,814 people are employed full-time in the legal cannabis industry in the United States. Yet these jobs are not recognized by the government. federal.

While the cannabis market is just beginning to grow, it is already generating 122,814 full-time jobs across the Atlantic. For the moment, the federal government does not recognize these thousands of legal workers. They are therefore not listed in the national statistics. Because of this semi-legality of jobs, Leafly, one of America's cannabis giants, has counted, state by state, how many jobs the nascent weed industry has created. The report's authors, Bruce Barcott and Gage Peak, contacted mainly production sites, dispensaries and companies working solely with cannabis.

According to them, the medical cannabis market, available in 29 states, generates 64,856 jobs while the fledgling recreational market is already generating almost 58,000 full-time jobs. The authors deplore the lack of official statistics and admit that the figure of 122,814 jobs may be underestimated. In counting these jobs, the authors emphasize the diversity of the professions created: growers, scientists, quality controllers, customer relations, dispensary salespeople, oil extractors, community managers, home delivery of weed...

We're talking here only about full-time jobs, not indirect or part-time employment. Outside these statistics are occasional webmasters, marketing or event agencies, smoking utensil manufacturers, cash-in-transit companies and job creation in specialized media.

Figures set to explode soon

Colorado alone has created 23,407 jobs for a total population of 5.36 million. California, which has just legalized recreational cannabis, already has 43,000 people working in the therapeutic weed industry.

Nevada, California, Maine and Massachusetts will add to the growing number of jobs in the recreational industry. A figure to which we can add the burgeoning medical cannabis markets in 8 new states.

New figures are expected this year for a fuller appreciation of what cannabis can bring in terms of growth, unemployment and tax revenues.