Jobs. Jobs. Jobs.
That was one of the main tenets of early supporters of New Mexico’s new and burgeoning recreational cannabis industry.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in April even predicted that the industry would create more than 11,000 jobs in the first year alone.
And cannabis businesses have been hiring like crazy, adding dozens — even hundreds — of employees with the start of recreational cannabis sales. It’s a stark contrast from the plight of many other industries, many of which are struggling to find workers as inflation rises and workforce participation remains stubbornly low.
“I think what we’re seeing is a pretty robust employment market,” Andrew Vallejos, the director for the Alcohol Beverage Control Division, told the Journal. “It seems like the cannabis industry is not facing as much of that labor crisis as other businesses have.”
Shiny new industry
The labor shortage has been felt by many industries across the country, including right here in New Mexico. Workers have been hard to come by at restaurants, hotels and even in construction, business leaders have told the Journal.
New Mexico still faces a relatively high unemployment rate and has struggled to bring people back into the workforce after the initial years of the pandemic.
As it stands, the state isn’t tracking cannabis jobs numbers. Vallejos said the Cannabis Control Division — which he is helping lead on an interim basis — hasn’t begun the process of tracking the industry’s jobs numbers, although the Department of Workforce Solutions plans to start in the future.
But anecdotally, cannabis leaders say their industry has only grown. Industry leaders say that’s in part because the cannabis industry is new, and gives workers a chance to try out something different. But Trishelle Kirk, the CEO of Everest Cannabis Co., said she thinks it goes deeper than that.
“I think it’s shiny, new and that’s exciting (for job seekers),” Kirk said. “But I think even more than that, is that there are a lot of people that are incredibly passionate about the power of cannabis. This is an opportunity for them to have a job that allows them to work with a plant that they’ve long believed provides good to society.”
The introduction of recreational cannabis, of course, opened up new opportunity for Everest, a so-called “legacy” operator that previously sold medical cannabis.
The company has since expanded, adding five retail stores in the last year, as well as a new test kitchen. And its employment has risen to match; Everest has gone from 85 employees last year to more than 185 this year — and counting.
“I will tell you that we still have no shortage of applicants,” Kirk said.
There has also been no worker shortage for OSO Cannabis Co., a legacy operator based out of Ruidoso. Melanie Dean, a regional manager with OSO, said the company has grown from a little more than 30 employees to now 103. That’s largely due to the company’s expansion with retail locations — its opened about a dozen in the last three years, including two in September alone — and a new manufacturing space where the company plans to create its own edibles.
The company has no plans on stopping expansion either, with more stores likely to open in the future.
“The expansion is still going,” Dean said.
Expansion is something Arshad Lasi knows all about. Lasi, the CEO of The Nirvana Group, said the company — which is right now based in Oklahoma with five dispensaries and six production facilities — will expand into New Mexico’s market because of its potential.
The Nirvana Group right now is completing a manufacturing facility in Albuquerque that spans 30,000 square feet. There has also been a heightened interest in opening retail stores in the state.
“We anticipate having upwards of 50 to 75 people probably working in this facility in all different categories and levels of responsibility … within six months to a year from today,” Lasi said.
The company’s mind isn’t only on New Mexico, though, as they are in the works of entering New Jersey’s cannabis industry, too.
And Bloom New Mexico, an arm of the national cannabis brand Bloom, has increased from just three employees when the company got going in 2018 to now 38. About 20 employees have been added since recreational cannabis was legalized, and the company says there is still room for more.
The company has gotten so busy, in fact, that orders have been backed up and taking longer than normal.
“We need more people because we’re still having a hard time keeping up with the orders, turning around orders in a timely manner like we’ve always been known to do,” said Bloom New Mexico CEO Byron Butcher. “There’s just such an increase (with) shops that are coming online now.”
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October 14, 2022 at 11:38PM
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'Shiny, new … exciting': NM's cannabis industry appeals to workers - Albuquerque Journal
"exciting" - Google News
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