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Report: Michigan marijuana jobs doubled in 2020

steve carmody
/
Michigan Radio

A new report claims the number of people working in Michigan’s marijuana industry doubled over the past year.

It’s difficult to put a firm number on Michigan pot employment since no government agency or industry group is tracking it.

But Seattle-based cannabis industry website Leafly is out with its fifth annual national jobs estimate. The report estimates nationally 321,000 people are working in the industry in states where medical, adult-use or both are legal.Leafly spokesman Bruce Barcott places Michigan’s cannabis job number at 18,078, an increase of 9,200 over their 2019 estimate.

“It’s not going to stop growing, but it will cool off,” says Barcott. “Essentially 2020 was the big bang for Michigan’s legal cannabis industry.”

That's because 2020 was the first full year of legal recreational marijuanasales in Michigan. 56% of Michiganders voted in favorof legalizing recreational pot use in 2018. 

Leafly’s jobs estimate is calculated from the nearly one billion dollars in combined sales of adult-use and medical marijuana in Michigan last year.

Steve Carmody has been a reporter for Michigan Public since 2005. Steve previously worked at public radio and television stations in Florida, Oklahoma and Kentucky, and also has extensive experience in commercial broadcasting.
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