Pa. weed jobs are growing even before legalization

As New Jersey legalizes recreational marijuana use and Pennsylvania is looking in that direction, companies like cannabis stores Zen Leaf expect to expand to hundreds of well-paying jobs.

“Adult use opens the cannabis market to new consumers, a new base,” said Brian Ward, chief financial officer of Verano Holdings, the Chicago-based parent company of Zen Leaf. “We are currently hiring new employees all the time. … In terms of the region and the economic impact, I can tell you it is absolutely massive. “

According to Leafly’s 2021 job report, the industry already employs 321,000 people nationwide after growing 32% during the pandemic. There are many more jobs to come. Verano, which operates in 11 states, already has two growers and 14 medical pharmacies in New Jersey and Pennsylvania – with more than 500 total jobs – and plans to add seven more stores in the state of Keystone that would create a few hundred more jobs, said he Additionally, according to Ward, all kinds of ancillary businesses – real estate, transportation, accounting – benefit from the marijuana market. “The possibilities,” he added, “can really be endless.”

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Across the country and region, many are relying on the “green rush” to rev up their economic engines, especially post COVID, and this has led states to use marijuana for recreational as well as medical purposes – or legalize adult use.

In the past year alone, eight states, including New Jersey and New York, have legalized recreational marijuana for people age 21 and older, which has grown to 19 states plus DC, according to the nonprofit Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). Several others, including Pennsylvania and Delaware, make invoices.

At the same time, it warns that cannabis is not a panacea for national budgets and that the complex, highly regulated industry poses some challenges, not least that marijuana is still illegal at the federal level.

“Each state is currently doing its own experiment,” said Brad Sodowick, a clinical assistant professor of finance at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business, who teaches a class on the burgeoning cannabis industry.

Marijuana is one of the fastest growing industries in the country, generating legal sales of $ 18.3 billion last year, a 71% increase (thanks to the stress of COVID) from 2019, according to cannabis website Leafly. According to the Vangst Cannabis Industry Salary Guide, wages start at around $ 15 an hour for an add-on tailor or retail budget tender and go up to $ 175,000 or more for a vice president of sales.

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“They have these living wage jobs,” said Beau Whitney, founder and chief economist of Whitney Economics in Portland, Oregon, who worked on Leafly’s job report.

In general, he added, legalizing recreational marijuana increases sales 10 times that of medical sales. That, of course, means more jobs and government dollars – although legal cannabis is still a small fraction, bringing in half a percent to 1% of a state’s revenue, Whitney said. Earlier this year, Illinois hit the headlines when it first took in more tax dollars from cannabis than from alcohol.

Some studies also show that cannabis can reduce prescription drug use and lower mortality from opioids, he said. Taken together, that makes a very promising industry, Whitney admitted, although he did point out that “Law is not a panacea. It won’t solve all problems. “

Still, cannabis is hard to resist.

When Delaware State Representative Ed Osienski (D., Newark) took office in 2010, recovery from the Great Recession was a priority. “I was committed to creating good jobs,” he said. “I’m looking at this [legalizing adult use] than to really fulfill my promise to my constituents. “

Despite his enthusiasm, Osienski was unable to muster the three-fifths majority required to pass the bill at the last session. He said he planned to try again. “I’ll look into it further,” said Osienski.

Next door in Pennsylvania, State Representative Jake Wheatley (D., Allegheny) has been hailing the legalization of marijuana for several years, not just for economic reasons, but also for social justice.

Last month, he and State Representative Dan Frankel (D., Allegheny) sought co-sponsorships for their bill, which would build on the state’s medical marijuana infrastructure, to provide a legal and regulatory framework for the cultivation and retail sale of marijuana and related products.

It also applies best practices to promote social and economic justice in communities – often colored ones – that have been negatively affected by the criminalization of cannabis. To do this, she is calling for records to be deleted, job opportunities created in the industry and reinvestment in badly affected neighborhoods.

“Originally, I wasn’t in favor of legalizing adult use,” Wheatley said. What has changed? He said he had seen firsthand the impact of criminalization on friends and black and brown communities.

Despite some rejections from religious leaders, Wheatley persevered, fueled in part by the fate of states that legalized marijuana early on, such as California, Colorado, and Washington.

“What I saw from these states were economic opportunities,” Wheatley said. “I really thought it was time we started talking about Pennsylvania.”

California leads the country’s legal cannabis market with nearly 58,000 jobs and posted sales of $ 3.77 billion last year, according to Leafly.

Although Pennsylvania only sells medical marijuana, it becomes a gangster and ranks 10th on the site’s list of top states. It has 15,895 employees – more than 7,000 added just last year despite the economic impact of the pandemic – and sales of $ 810 million. The state was also cited for maintaining “one of the largest pools of medicinal cannabis users in the country”. On May 18, it exceeded 343,600 patients, according to the MPP.

“Our medical marijuana infrastructure is second to none in the region,” said Meredith Büttner, executive director of the Harrisburg-based Pennsylvania Cannabis Coalition, a nonprofit. The state has nearly 130 pharmacies, she added, with potential for a whopping 210 once all approvals are in place.

“Our medical market is more robust than any of our neighbors,” said Büttner. By comparison, New Jersey lists 20 alternative treatment centers on its state website, although more are in the pipeline.

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Typically, medical marijuana surgeries expand into the adult market. That makes Pennsylvania poised for a faster transition – perhaps within six months of legalization – compared to other states while still having plenty of product for patients. New Jersey is expected to have a period of 12 to 18 months. “I think there is a bit of a misunderstanding,” said Büttner, that Pennsylvania is “so far behind the neighboring states.”

Despite the rosy industry picture, cannabis can be a tough business, and companies have seen their fortunes rise and fall.

“We make a lot of sales compared to other retailers,” said Jeremy Unruh, senior vice president of public and regulatory affairs for Chicago-based, privately held PharmaCann, which operates in Pennsylvania and other states. “But everything costs so much more … that the margin fizzles out.”

For example, real estate options for stores are often limited, which drives prices up. The federal controlled substance status of marijuana makes it difficult, if not impossible, to get commercial credit, and an IRS rule prohibits business deduction.

US Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Chuck Schumer of New York and Ron Wyden of Oregon, all Democrats, support a law that would treat and tax and regulate marijuana much like alcohol or tobacco is not seen as a great opportunity for passage. The US House of Representatives voted to decriminalize marijuana last year.

“The only way to stay in business,” said Unruh, “is to become bigger and more robust.”

To that end, the large vertically integrated corporations are already investing in Pennsylvania, betting that adult legalization is on the way sooner rather than later. Verano caught TerraVida holistic centers, a chain of medical marijuana Stores, based in Jenkintown, in February for around $ 135 million. Meanwhile, in April, Trulieve Cannabis Corp. the newest Marijuana companies out of state invest here with the $ 60 million purchase from Keystone Shops.

And several universities step in to train the next generation. The University of Sciences in Philadelphia has a MBA degree for students looking for opportunities in cannabis. Stockton University in New Jersey offers a minor in cannabis studies, while Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia offers a degree in cannabis medicine for health professionals.

PharmaCann currently employs around 200 people in its four Verilife branches in the state, Unruh said. When used by adults, Unruh expects the market to skyrocket. “For us this will likely mean tripling the number of jobs we will provide,” he said. “There are jobs, opportunities and growth in this industry.”

The Future of Work is produced with support from the William Penn Foundation and the Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project sponsors.