To say that the legal marijuana industry is on an upward spiral is a gross understatement. There are now nine states (plus D.C) where it is legal to use weed on a recreational basis, and 29 states where it is allowed for medicinal use. Marijuana has officially gone mainstream with anywhere between 30 million and 55 million adults currently using for one reason or another.

Also, 56% of Americans now believe that smoking weed is socially acceptable, and retail sales of cannabis was around $6.5 billion in 2017 – a figure set to grow to an astounding $30 billion by 2021. If marijuana becomes legal everywhere, the sky is the limit. Obviously, however, the demand for cannabis means the growth and production of weed products now have to happen on an industrial scale, and as is the case with any product that attains ‘mass produced’ status, there are positive and negative aspects to consider.

“They Took Our Jobs!”

In this instance, ‘they’ relates to the technological advances employed by companies such as Convectium, who believe that automation is the way forward. Convectium specializes in filling vape cartridges, and can fill 100 of them in 30 seconds with machinery. In contrast, a company relying on human labor may take an hour to fill 100. According to Danny Davies, a managing partner at the company, demand for Convectium’s machines has increased five-fold.

Also, employees known as ‘trimmigrants’ have one of the toughest jobs in the industry; each summer, thousands of migrant workers come to Northern California to work as ‘trimmers’ once the weed gets harvested. It is hard, honest work that involves pruning the buds with a tiny pair of scissors to remove the leaves before the buds go on sale.

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