LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — MJ BizCon, the annual marijuana business convention, is happening now in Las Vegas.
Cannabis professionals are there to talk about trends in the industry, and a hot topic this year is hiring in the growing industry.
“Just last year alone the job market increased 44% in the cannabis industry," said Liesl Bernard from CannabizTeam.
Industry leaders say the stigma cannabis has experienced over the years is quickly fading as companies like CannabizTeam, a workforce management company, help fill marijuana related jobs.
“I think with the stigma changing its just going to one another employment market and people can transition in and out of it very easily," said Bernard.
A decade ago it was all but illegal in the US. Now, cannabis is recreationally legal in 11 states and legal for medical use in 33 states.
The new industry is booming and with that many new jobs are being created.
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One marijuana business, Red Bird, who looked to Cannabiz for help, at first had issues filling positions due to the stigma.
“The unfortunate part is that because of the stigma those quality people frown upon when they hear its a cannabis business or cbd business, “ said Dr. Nimesh Patel from Red Bird.
And some businesses like GreenBroz say the opposite, that the stigma is now gone and they have lots of people wanting to come over.
“We’ve found quite the opposite, we found people are really excited, a couple of years ago is different, but now people are excited,” said Cullen Raichart of North Las Vegas based GreenBroz.
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Job seekers are becoming excited about the money they potentially can make as median incomes are around 11% higher than other industries.
All of the industry professionals we spoke with said one thing, cannabis will become legal around the country and they expect the industry to grow over the next decade.
