New research shows the cannabis industry is far outpacing the tech sector in job creation and is on target to create more than 250,000 jobs by 2020.
In addition to new high-paying careers like bud tenders and trimmers, a host of security opportunities also abound.
Still, marijuana businesses face unique HR challenges.
That was among the topics of discussion at the second Aspen High Summit, which brought together cannabis entrepreneurs and investors, the entertainment industry and the state’s top marijuana regulator.
Attendees at the Aspen High Summit were “serious business people and serious makers of medicine, they’re Ph. D’s, MD’s,” said summit organizer Jim Lewi. “They’re not going for the highest THC product in the world, they are trying to normalize it.”
“It has become much less stigmatized. Seniors talk to their peers, and they say, I got relief when I used this on my shoulder or my knee. I would say probably two in 10 have used some formulation [of marijuana or cannabis products].”
Wipe low-level marijuana convictions clean?
That’s what The Denver Post editorial board proposes, noting that laws have “adapted to meet the realization dawning over America that marijuana is a relatively safe drug.”
Cause for concern?
What President Trump’s pick for AG could mean for the marijuana industry.
Cannabis and Alzheimer’s
Harvard’s McLean Psychiatric Hospital is partnering with Spier Family Foundation to research the potential benefits.
Following the money
As legalization spreads, the Associated Press looks at which U.S. companies are getting into on the marijuana industry.
The legalization of marijuana is forcing some drug-sniffing dogs into early retirement and prompting trainers and law enforcement departments to rethink whether to include cannabis in the list of substances dogs are trained to detect. The move comes on the heels of a Colorado court case that says that a dog’s reaction to what might be legal marijuana jeopardizes a law enforcement officer’s ability to initiate a probable cause search for any illegal substances.
As cannabis prices fall, states may have to go back to the drawing board
Policy analysts says states like Colorado may have to rethink their taxing schemes.
10th Circuit to rule on cannabis workers protections
The appeals court will decide whether workers in Colorado’s legal marijuana industry are entitled to wage and hour protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Longmont gets first adult-use dispensary
Elected officials, city leaders and other celebrate the opening of Terrapin’s sixth store, the first in Longmont.
State awards $2.7 million for studies on therapeutic uses of cannabis
One will research marijuana as an alternative to opiods for chronic spine pain; the other will look at CBD and autism.
The departure of Attorney General Jeff Sessions has sent cannabis stocks rising and calmed states an industry on edge from his tough anti-marijuana rhetoric. While acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker hasn’t taken a stand on the issue, marijuana advocates are hopeful they have escaped the toughest scrutiny.
Legal marijuana is helping to solve hallway and classroom conflicts in Colorado’s public schools. That’s according to Allison Horton, a teacher at Denver’s Skinner Middle School, which is among 71 schools across the state that got money last years from the Colorado Department of Education’s Bullying Prevention Grant program. The program was created in 2016 after voters approved spending marijuana tax dollars on school construction and other efforts aimed at improving school health and safety.
•••
The growing public support for legal marijuana was evident at the polls this month as Michigan became the 10th state to legalize adult use and sales. Voters in Missouri and Utah approved the legal use of medical cannabis. And more than a than a half dozen states elected governors who support legal cannabis.
That’s good news for Colorado companies like Colorado Leads member Wana Brands, which expects to be in six additional states next year.