Ganja Job Boom: Why Isn't The Trump Administration All About It?

Seriously though. It's a win win.

Donald Trump has been pretty vocal about his commitment to create jobs. But there's a growing industry that is creating thousands of jobs and millions in revenue that the administration has, so far, turned their back on.

Gallup / Via gallup.com

With more and more Americans jumping on board with the legalization of marijuana, it's surprising that the federal government still holds such animosity towards the industry. Colorado alone created over 18,000 jobs in the legal marijuana business in 2015. But even more incredible is the amount of people nationwide that hold full time jobs in this industry. Almost 123,000 people have full time jobs whether in the growing, distribution, or retail; and that doesn't include the thousands of part time workers as well.

But unfortunately, we don't really know that much about the drug and its effects on humans which is a big reason the federal government is still severely against it. So far we've seen encouraging statistics of the benefits THC and CBD have medically such as aiding people with PTSD, epilepsy, and chronic physical pain. But the stigma that follows recreational marijuana is how dangerous it is for users. This issue probably wouldn't exist today if we had taken proper steps to research and get a full-understanding of marijuana in the first place...but moving on.

"Behind every one of those jobs is a hard-working, taxpaying American. They’re the botanists at Medicine Man in Denver; the oil extraction technicians at Dama in Seattle; the budtenders at Farma in Portland; the mechanical engineers at Apeks Supercritical in Johnstown, Ohio; the scientists at Steep Hill Labs in Honolulu, Albuquerque, Seattle, and Portland. They’re lawyers at Harris Bricken, they’re software developers at MJ Freeway Business Solutions. They’re writers, editors, web developers, event planners, and customer support specialists here at Leafly." -Bruce Barcott and Gage Peake

Maryland Medical Marijuana Grow / Via greenwayconsults.com

New Frontier Data recently projected that by 2020 there will be more jobs in the cannabis industry than manufacturing. That's kinda a huge deal. This is mostly due to the fact that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts that manufacturing and government jobs are set to decline in the next 8 years.

However, Donald Trump's focus on job growth is centered on coal mining. And coal miners were pretty pumped about it. Unfortunately due to the current status of healthcare and federal funds the Trump administration might end up screwing them over. So why is Donald Trump so gung-ho over coal-mining when the benefits of legal marijuana exceed most plans of job growth by the Trump administration so far? The marijuana industry's worth is rising at a compound annual rate of 17% and millions of dollars in revenue. Colorado specifically wants to use this tax revenue towards public school construction (more jobs), public health (jobs) and youth substance prevention and abuse treatment (jobs). This isn't a dying business Trump Admin, this is a ripple effect.

“Why use up the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down, if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of the hemp fields?” -Henry Ford

Joe Raedle / Via entrepreneur.com