High Stakes: The State of the California Cannabis Workforce

Seven years into the official launch of the adult-use market, cannabis is at a crossroads in California. Rapid cycles of booms and busts, rushes and slowdowns, and threats and opportunities have made for an industry that, despite many changes, still brings significant value to the state and stands as an expanding source of economic development. Often missing from the story of the industry’s shifts are workers, who in 2024 were estimated to number at least 78,618 in the legal market alone. Through a research justice model guided by our community advisory board of labor and equity groups throughout the state, we built a team of worker researchers who conducted more than 1,111 surveys, collected more than 50 in-depth interviews, brought the findings to stakeholders in seven in-depth data “seshes,” and created a wide-ranging Instagram presence that shared 25 live episodes on key issues facing workers and the industry.“High Stakes: The State of the California Cannabis Workforce” shares important trends that confirm the potential of cannabis to contribute to California’s growth, well-being, and environmental change, as well as challenges that must be addressed head-on.