420,000 Full-Time Cannabis Jobs?
The cannabis industry is on track to become one of the largest employers of any industry in North America.
Welcome to Four PM — a daily newsletter that provides cannabis industry news & insights from cannabis industry leaders.
In Today’s Issue 💬
→ Reaching 420,000 Full-Time Cannabis Jobs.
→ The Popular Cannabis Club On Peloton.
→ Apple Wants To Work With Cannabis Companies.
The Growing Demand For Talent In Cannabis
As the cannabis industry continues to expand there is an ever-increasing demand for talented people to join the cannabis industry.
With 321,000 full-time jobs, the cannabis industry is on track to become one of the largest employers of any industry in the U.S in the coming years.
Cannabis may be illegal at a federal level in the United States, however, this hasn’t stopped some 36 States from legalizing cannabis for medical purposes & 18 States for adult-use purposes.
With a thriving illicit market in a majority of regions where cannabis is legal due to the high taxes, it seems very likely that the total number of people working in the cannabis industry is much greater than 321,000 in 2021.
Half a Million Jobs 💰
Cannabis is projected to provide over 420,000 full-time jobs in the U.S by Q1 2022, and over 520,000 full-time jobs by the end of 2022.
If the United States fails to legalize cannabis at a federal level by December 2022, there will have been at least half a million people employed full-time in the legal cannabis industry ever before cannabis was legal at a federal level.
Our Take
One of the clearest cases for cannabis to be legalized at a federal level in the United States, and quite frankly for cannabis to be legalized in every nation across the world is the number of jobs the legal cannabis industry creates.
Although 321,000 is a very large number there is a very subtle, yet very powerful psychological impact of the legal cannabis industry providing over half a million full-time jobs.
I expect this number to become one of the most popular data points referenced across the globe in the efforts being made to legalize cannabis.
Cannabis Exercise Clubs
An emerging trend in the cannabis industry that completely undermines the lazy stoner persona.
There are many different reasons why people choose to consume cannabis.
For some people cannabis is a medicine, for others, they choose to consume cannabis to gain a better night’s sleep — it’s a very long list.
The Lazy Stoner
We have all heard the stories of the “lazy stoner”, however, there is a type of cannabis consumer which undermines this popular tale.
These are the people who consume cannabis to enhance their exercise.
Contrary to the popular narrative that people who consume cannabis are lazy, there is a long list of high-performing athletes who have come out of the cannabis closet to express their love for this plant:
→ Nick & Nate Diaz: Two of the best athletes in the world in the sport of Mixed Martial Arts.
→ Amy Van Dyken: Six-time Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer for the U.S Swimming team.
→ Connor Mc’Gregor: The highest paid athlete in the world in 2020, and the former UFC two weight division champion.
→ Ross Rebagliati: Former Olympic gold medalist in snowboarding who had this medal taken off him for consuming cannabis.
→ Jamie Anderson: Olympic Gold medal winning snowboarder from the 2014 Olympic games.
→ Carmelo Anthony: One of the best basketball players of all time, receiving ten NBA All-Star awards throughout his career.
This specific trend of people seeking to consume cannabis to enhance exercise goes far beyond high-performing athletes, as is highlighted by the emergence of “Pelestoners” on the popular home exercise machine Peloton.
Currently, there are some 2,000 members of “Pelestoners” — a club which has formed on Peloton as a result of their mutual appreciation for cannabis.
Our Take
This is a really big opportunity.
Just as there is a growing number of consumers who choose to consume cannabis when playing video games — consumers choosing to consume cannabis to have a more enjoyable workout is another emerging trend I’m paying close attention to.
My two cents? Expect to see a group of high-performing, well known athletes coming together to create this cannabis brand in the coming years.
The Big Apple Wants To Work With Weed
The most valuable company in the world embraces the idea of working with legal cannabis companies.
Apple, a company valued at some $2.28 trillion USD is changing its app store policies to once again allow cannabis iOS apps to facilitate transactions.
The company has had a very mixed relationship with cannabis, despite Apple Co-founder & former CEO Steve Jobs having spoken very publicly about his positive relationship with cannabis.
The latest development in this story makes Apple the second trillion-dollar company in the U.S to change its viewpoint on the cannabis industry in the last month, with Amazon publicly declaring its support for cannabis.
Past vs Present
The previous policy stated:
“Apps that encourage consumption of tobacco and vape products, illegal drugs, or excessive amounts of alcohol are not permitted on the App Store. Apps that encourage minors to consume any of these substances will be rejected. Facilitating the sale of controlled substances (except for licensed pharmacies), marijuana, or tobacco is not allowed.
The new policy states:
“Apps that encourage consumption of tobacco and vape products, illegal drugs, or excessive amounts of alcohol are not permitted on the App Store. Apps that encourage minors to consume any of these substances will be rejected. Facilitating the sale of controlled substances (except for licensed pharmacies and licensed or otherwise legal cannabis dispensaries), or tobacco is not allowed.”
Legal Cannabis?
The area in need of clarity is how Apple intends to define the term “legal cannabis” — does this mean cannabis needs to be legal at a federal level, or can companies operating in States where cannabis is legal benefit from this?
It seems likely that Apple would roll this out to companies that are operating in regions where cannabis is legal at a federal level, such as Snapchat & Twitter have done to date in allowing Canadian cannabis companies to access their programmatic advertising capabilities.
Our Take
The CEO of Uber, Dara Khosrowshahi has previously commented on the possibility that Uber would seek to expand their services to service the legal cannabis industry.
With the province of B.C having recently changed its policies to permit cannabis deliveries in the province — it seems increasingly likely that these large delivery startups will stand to benefit the most from this announcement with a clear path to now expand into cannabis, starting in Canada.
Have a great day. I’ll talk to everyone tomorrow. 👋
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