While industries across the U.S. are struggling to find workers, the cannabis sector in Missouri is having no issue.
The state’s legal medical marijuana industry has added over 4,000 jobs in the past year.
According to a report this week from the Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association, or MoCannTrade, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has to date issued some 4,584 state agent ID cards.
ID cards are required to work in medical marijuana facilities.
This number is up from just 200 IDs issued back in September 2020.
The Missouri DHSS data also reveals that the majority of licensed medical marijuana facilities in the state are now approved to operate, with 235 out of 380 cannabis companies receiving approval.
Those numbers include 140 out of 200 authorized dispensaries now approved for operation, as well as six testing labs and 29 cultivators.
“Just as patient demand has far surpassed early projections, interest among prospective medical cannabis workers has consistently blown the roof off our license operators’ expectations,” said Andrew Mullins, executive director of MoCannTrade.
According to MoCannTrade, analysts expect the state’s marijuana sector will add “several thousand more new jobs, more than $800 million in direct spending and another $570 million in indirect spending over the course of its first full year of sales and operation.”
John Pennington, CEO of Proper Brands and a MoCannTrade board member, says his company alone has seen approximately 4,500 job applications for a total of 150 full-time positions.
“The talent that we’ve been able to recruit has been second to none,” Pennington told the St. Louis Business Journal. “This is an industry that is made up of incredibly talented people who are now in a position to work in a field that’s been a dream for them …. That’s not slowing down. This business is moving the needle.”
