[I]t wasn’t too long ago that if one told their parents they were seeking to enter the marijuana industry, he or she would most likely be instantly lectured on the pitfalls of a life of crime. The recent trend towards legalized marijuana has changed all of that and created a number of legitimate jobs that exist in this newly sanctioned industry.
WeedHire.com is a widely recognized website dedicated to helping IT Professionals in the cannabis industry find these new, high paying jobs in states where marijuana is legalized. Most businesses of any standing will use technology to varying degrees, so why would the marijuana industry be any different? From e-commerce managers to bloggers, the industry is emerging with its own tech needs.
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| According to statistics, 55% of Americans believe that marijuana should be legalized. This has huge implications on the economy, specifically the jobs market. |
And the opportunities are not limited to tech jobs. Scientists, medical professionals, and entrepreneurs will all play a role in this industry while government and public service jobs are springing up as well.
In states where marijuana has been legalized, a wide range of jobs from low-level inspectors to high-level department administrators are coming to be.
An example is a June posting by Minnesota’s State’s Health Department, which was seeking a Director of the Office of Medical Cannabis, to help manage the implementation of the state’s medical marijuana program. A woman named Michelle Larson won the position and she will earn up to $105,000 in 2015.
Keep in mind that marijuana has only been legalized in a few states so far, but may have already added up to 175,000 new jobs to the marketplace. An example of this trend can be seen in Colorado, where over 10,000 people have found work in the industry since the state passed Amendment 64 in 2012, with almost 2,000 new jobs created in September of 2014 alone. Crime is down, and even the demand for commercial real estate is up.
“We predicted that this would be an industry that would function like any other industry — that they would be no more or less driven or acquisitive than any other industry and they would be no more or less given to regulation and supporting regulation,” Colorado Govener John Hickenlooper told BuzzFeed during an interview in March of 2014. “They look at their self-interest just like another business, but it’s a whole different framework: No one has ever had a self-interest like this, where they have got to protect the right to do in a state what’s illegal nationally.”
Regardless of how one feels about this issue, what remains true is this: as the legal pot comes, there will be legal jobs to follow.
