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Each week, Vangst Founder and CEO Karson Humiston talks to the founders, executives, thought leaders and change-makers who are building a brand new industry. Get executive-level insights, and find out why they’re Proud to Work in Cannabis.

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The gig economy is bigger than ever, and so is the cannabis industry. Here's how the two can connect for revenue growth and expansion.

### **The Gig Economy: 50 Million Strong**
More than 50 million Americans are “independent workers,” according to a recent [McKinsey & Co. survey](https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/sustainable-inclusive-growth/future-of-america/freelance-side-hustles-and-gigs-many-more-americans-have-become-independent-workers). These workers are often professionals doing freelance or contract creative work, temping in white-collar roles at more traditional offices, and/or working jobs more often called “gigs”: Delivering food and groceries or carrying passengers for ride-hailing services like Uber or Lyft. 

That 50 million Americans amounts to 36% of the total U.S. workforce, up from 27% in 2016. 

This, the so-called “gig economy,” is a growing force in America’s labor market.

### **Cannabis, Contractors, and the Cannacurious**
Booming right alongside the gig economy is the cannabis industry — nearly half-a-million strong and seeing double-digit growth every year, according to the [2022 Leafly Jobs Report](https://www.leafly.com/news/industry/cannabis-jobs-report). 

And the cannabis industry is increasingly looking to part-time labor and outside specialists. About half of all companies surveyed for Vangst’s 2022 Cannabis Industry Salary Guide say they use part-time or seasonal labor, while a quarter expect to outsource roles to independent workers and other contractors in the next year.

There’s never been a better time to build the cannabis gig economy: The cannacurious get an opportunity to give the industry a try, while the industry gets to take full advantage of these independent contractors and their talents.

### **The Solution: Vangst GIGS**
GIGS is Vangst’s temporary employment product that offers talent at all career stages the chance to work leading cannabis companies on a temporary, or temp-to-hire, basis. Whether it’s a trimmer, an HR generalist, an interim CMO, a seasonal budtender — or anything in between — Vangst GIGS empowers professionals who are looking to level up their careers. 

For companies, Vangst GIGS gives plant-touching and ancillary businesses access to the largest pool of vetted, talented, badged, W2, I9’d, ready-to-work cannabis gig workers. Whether it's for a three-month cultivation project, temporary retail help, or high-level expertise and leadership, Vangst recruiters work with your team to find the best fit for the team.

### **Uncertain Times Call for a Proven Platform**
We enter a new year with an economy that’s in uncharted territory for most businesses and independent workers. The cannabis industry itself is still in startup mode.

These times call for a steady hand with a proven record. Since 2016, Vangst has placed a quarter-million GIGS workers and filled nearly 4,000 senior-level positions.

### **What other benefits are there to working on the Vangst GIGS platform?**
*For talent:*
- Explore a new industry, or new field within cannabis, with little commitment
- Receive a W2 paycheck: No surprise tax bills at the end of the year
- Enjoy freedom and flexibility in work schedule and verticals that’s unusual in other sectors
- Strengthen your resume and level-up your career

*For companies:*

- Affordably tap into Vangst's unparalleled pool of talent and expertise for temp or temp-to-hire positions, regardless of vertical
- All GIGS workers are Vangst W2 employees: Let us handle vetting candidates, processing payroll, paying payroll taxes, and workers’ comp
- Easily find specialists with the experience you need to grow your business

### **How do you join the Vangst GIGS network?**
*Talent*: Once you [create a Vangst profile](https://vangst.com/sign-up) and identify yourself as somebody who is open to GIGS work through the Vangst dashboard, you will automatically be placed into the pool of potential GIGS workers. From there, our recruiters will reach out to you should there be an opportunity in your area that matches your skillset, and will help you navigate the interview, and screening processes. 

**Want to learn more about what makes a candidate stand out and other ways to get ahead in the industry? [Check out our webinar, “Advancing Your Cannabis Career Through Contracting and Gigs" on Dec. 6.](https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wnV83iSURrytnqWHWkxG3A)**


*Companies:* Once you’ve set up a company page at [vangst.com](https://vangst.com/sign-up) and decided to move forward with Vangst GIGS, you can send an email directly to [sales@vangst.com](mailto:sales@vangst.com), with details of which role(s) you’re looking to fill, the location, the amount of workers, and any other important information. From there, one of our recruiters will be in touch with you to schedule a kickoff call, which will help them understand the scope of the job as well as crucial information that will help our best-in-class recruiters find the best candidates for your team. 

**Want to learn more about how Vangst GIGS can help you increase your runway while reducing your operational costs? [Check out our webinar, “Building a Stronger Cannabis Workforce With Contractors” on Dec. 8.](https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0K_ClFuPSvmxAMRoUiV_NA)**
 



How the gig economy can boost your cannabis career — and your company's bottom line

More than a third of Americans consider themselves 'independent workers'

How Cannabis Can Leverage Independent Work and the ‘Gig Economy’

A former NASA engineer is building a robotics firm to automate plant-touching tasks in the cannabis industry. How will that change the industry?

Things are moving fast in the world of cannabis, and Nohtal Partansky is helping  both manufacturers and vertically integrated brands automate previously manual tasks — like infusing joints with live resin. 

The bonus for the workforce?  It provides the opportunity for upskilling, the Founder and CEO of [Sorting Robotics](https://www.sortingrobotics.com/) told Vangst Founder and CEO Karson Humiston in this week's podcast. He's also hiring techs across the country as his AI-powered technology rolls out.

<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless src="https://player.simplecast.com/e7e91dc6-b6fb-427b-aa11-3ec56e2753db?dark=false"></iframe>

"[The companies] end up upskilling their current workforce, so that way, the employees that were there before maybe just rolling joints, they're now getting paid a higher wage because they're doing something a bit more complicated," Nohtal told Karson. "And then if they're able to reallocate those employees, they end up going to the packaging department because now they have  more stuff to package than they did before, so it's a lot by upskilling and reconfiguring their workforce so they're a much more efficient company and their employees are just happier."



Can Automation Help Upskill the Cannabis Workforce?

A former NASA engineer gives us insights into his AI-powered devices and hiring plans

Cannabis legalization advocates made a push into the South and Midwest with varied results on election night. Here's what happened.

Election Day 2022 was a mixed bag for drug-reform advocates and the cannabis industry, as both tried to [push the adult-use cannabis market](https://vangst.com/blog/cannabis-vote-2022-majority-support) into uncharted territory. An attempt to spread out of mostly coastal or progressive states and into the conservative South and Midwest went 1 for 4, while Mid-Atlantic Maryland proponents had a big victory. Here's what happened:

**Arkansas** — Issue 4 was [REJECTED](https://mjbizdaily.com/arkansas-voters-look-set-to-reject-recreational-cannabis-legalization/), as the initiative was met with strong opposition, including by then-candidate and now duly elected Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Even some cannabis proponents were on the fence due to tight license caps, prohibition on home grows, and [strict possession limits](https://arkansasadvocate.com/2022/10/06/if-approved-arkansas-recreational-marijuana-law-would-be-tightest-in-u-s/). Leaders of the state's successful medical market dumped about $13 million into promoting the issue, but that wasn't enough to tip the Southern state into the "yes" category on adult-use cannabis. 

**Maryland** — 65% of Maryland voters [voted YES ](https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/elections/bs-md-pol-recreational-cannabis-legalization-question-20221108-gdf5yjmpwvfbzcdgmtdfxvbo6a-story.html) to Question 4 in the 2022 midterm election, "Do you favor the legalization of the use of cannabis by an individual who is at least 21 years of age on or after July 1, 2023, in the State of Maryland?" That made Maryland the 20th state to legalize an adult-use market

**Missouri **— Amendment 3 was [PASSED](https://norml.org/blog/2022/11/09/missouri-becomes-21st-state-to-legalize-marijuana-for-adult-use/), which will open up an adult-use cannabis market in the state and expunge many cannabis-related offenses. However, there is still an uphill battle ahead, as there are many critics to the amendment, including the state Democratic Party and NAACP, which said that the bill doesn't do enough for social equity. Missouri became the 21st state to legalize adult-use cannabis.

**North Dakota** — A second bid to create an adult-use cannabis market within the state since 2018, Measure 2, was [DEFEATED](https://time.com/6231201/marijuana-legal-elections-2022/), 55-45.

**South Dakota** — It's been an uphill battle for cannabis in South Dakota too, where voters said NO to a cannabis-related ballot that would have legalized home-grown cannabis possession. The [53-47 results](https://time.com/6231201/marijuana-legal-elections-2022/) come after a state-sponsored lawsuit killed a 2020 measure that was approved by 54% of South Dakota voters and would have allowed commercial cultivation and sale of adult-use cannabis. 

Recreational Cannabis Mixed Bag in the 2022 Election

The effort to expand adult-use markets into the South and Midwest saw some success

Cannabis Advocates Win Some, Lose Some in 2022 Election

As a divided nation heads to the polls, there's one thing that unites most voters: cannabis legalization. Here are the data.

It's election week in the United States, and by many accounts the nation is more divided than ever.

Once you cut through the fog of partisan warfare and take a good look at what normal Americans really want, however, you'll find that there are actually [a lot of issues](https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/surprising-things-americans-actually-agree-on/) that unite most of the nation: healthcare costs should be lower; respect for the military and armed forces; political ads suck; and, yes, **cannabis should be legalized:**

An April 2022 [CBS News and YouGov poll](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/marijuana-recreational-legalize-opinion-poll-2022-04-20/) shows that 66% of Americans believe that adult-use cannabis should be legal in both their state and at the federal level. This aligns with an April 2021 [Pew Research Center poll](https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/04/16/americans-overwhelmingly-say-marijuana-should-be-legal-for-recreational-or-medical-use/) showing that **91% of Americans** believe cannabis **should be legal for either medical use only (31%) or both medical and adult-use (60%).**

And in the [five U.S. states](https://vangst.com/blog/states-that-will-legalize-marijuana-cannabis-2022-elections) where adult-use cannabis may be legalized by voters on Nov. 8, those ballot measures are, for the most part, enjoying majority support.

According to a [recent MJBizDaily analysis](https://mjbizdaily.com/polls-suggest-mixed-results-for-adult-use-marijuana-legalization-ballot-measures/), a majority or plurality of voters in the four states that have seen polling — Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, South Dakota — support initiatives that would legalize retail sales of the plant. North Dakota, the other state, doesn't appear to have polls on the issue.

That, of course, doesn't mean voters will legalize weed in all five states on Tuesday (things in Arkansas, especially, are tricky), but it shows that — even if you're sick of the current national partisan bickering and culture wars — there's still a reason to vote. The health of millions of Americans depends on it.

The regulated and legal sale of cannabis is one thing that we all (for the most part) can agree on.

### **Here are the statewide cannabis-legalization ballot measures to keep an eye on on Tuesday, Nov. 8:**

**Arkansas: Issue 4**

Arkansas is one of only a few states in the South to have a fully functional medical cannabis program, and it could up its game with adult-use sales in 2023 should Responsible Growth Arkansas succeed in its ballot measure. The group recently submitted twice the number of signatures necessary to get on the November ballot, and after a challenge, the state Supreme Court ruled that the proposed constitutional amendment will appear on the Nov. 8 ballots.

But if approved, experts say, the market would be the strictest in the U.S.

**Maryland: Question 4**

Maryland also has its own booming medical cannabis program, and 2022 looks like it will be the year that grows to adult-use. But rather than being activist-led, this change is going top down: The Maryland House and Senate have both approved a constitutional amendment that would legalize adult-use sales to those 21 and older come July 2023.

Sister legislation would make possession of 1.5 ounces of cannabis legal and change possession of as much as 2.5 ounces from a criminal offense to a civil violation. It would also automatically expunge many past cannabis convictions. Citizens will vote the legislation up or down in November.

**Missouri: Amendment 3**

Sixty-two percent of Missouri voters [are in favor](https://www.columbiatribune.com/story/news/politics/elections/local/2022/08/13/recreational-marijuana-cannabis-legalize-vote-pass-missouri-advocates-say-election-2022/10307234002/) of legalizing adult-use cannabis in medical-only Missouri come November, according to Legal Missouri 2022, which turned in enough signatures to get Amendment 3 on the ballot.

Should the initiative pass, nonviolent cannabis convictions will automatically be expunged, and industry participation will be broadened to set small businesses, low-capital entrepreneurs, and those harmed by the drug war up for success.

**North Dakota: Measure 2**

The Peace Garden State may see a big change if the advocacy organization New Approach North Dakota is successful. Measure 2 will establish a process for licensing adult-use cannabis stores, manufacturers, testing laboratories, and other cannabis businesses.

If passed, regulators must pass rules and implement the program by Oct. 1, 2023. According to NORML, which is tracking these initiatives, North Dakota has historically had among the highest arrest rates for cannabis possession in the country “despite having among the lowest reported marijuana use of any state.”

**South Dakota: Measure 27**

It seems that South Dakota voters are doing their best to legalize cannabis programs every two years. Prohibitionist state leadership has done its best to block any progress in cannabis reform: Citizens approved two ballot initiatives that would have legalized adult-use sales while also establishing a medical marijuana program in 2020.

The state Supreme Court struck down the adult-use measure, but the medical program survived.

Activists are setting a lower bar this year with Measure 27, which would legalize growing cannabis (up to three plants), possessing as much as 1 ounce of cannabis, and gifting the plant (not selling it).







Most Americans Agree on Cannabis Legalization

In a divided and partisan nation, there's one thing that unites most voters: Cannabis legalization

Cannabis: The one thing we all can agree on

As the cannabis industry continues to move forward through these tumultuous times, the annual Vangst Salary Guide aims to help companies benchmark their employment opportunities against competitors, to ensure that they remain competitive in the market. 

Vangst 2022 Salary Guide Insight: Top Paying Cannabis Jobs

What happens when a neuroscientist, turned Employee #1 at one of the country’s first cannabis brands, takes on a government role? Find out on this episode of Proud to Work in Cannabis, featuring Tristan Watkins, Program Manager at Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.

From Neuroscientist to Policy Maker: A Full Circle Story Feat. Tristan Watkins

We are so excited to announce the launch of our 2022 Salary Guide, which now includes salary insights for over 60 roles, spanning 10 industry verticals.

Live Now: The Vangst 2022 Salary Guide

Founder & CEO of Vangst, Karson Humiston, sits down with Founder & CEO of Headset, Cy Scott, to discuss the past, present, and future of cannabis. They also address the elephant in the room: layoffs. With a lack of federal momentum in banking for the cannabis industry, leaders are forced to make tough economic decisions for their businesses. Cy and Karson give deep insights into leading their organizations through these industry headwinds.

“We’re not disrupting; we’re defining” Feat. Cy Scott

In December 2022, Vangst hosted a webinar titled: "Advancing Your Career Through Contract Gigs," which was hosted by a panel of leading Vangst recruiters. Read more about takeaways from the webinar.

3 Takeaways from Vangst's GIGS Webinar

Saphira Galoob, Executive Director of the National Cannabis Roundtable and Principal & CEO of The Liaison Group, joined Vangst’s CEO & Founder, Karson Humiston, on this week’s episode of Proud to Work in Cannabis, to talk through the recent history of cannabis legislation, touching on topics such as the SAFE Banking Act, the Cole Memorandum, and 280E. 

"Legalization Is Not a Moment; It's a Process" Feat. Saphira Galoob

What happens when two Buffalo Bills fans get together to talk about cannabis? Find out on Proud to Work in Cannabis’s Season 2 Premier: “The New York Cannabis Clock is Ticking” 

The New York Cannabis Clock is Ticking With Joe Schafer

Are you looking for a cannabis industry pulse check? Well look no further than Vangst's Economic Pulse White Paper that takes an honest and insightful look at current industry trends and sentiments. With previously unpublished data from our 2022 Salary Guide Survey, you don't want to miss it! 

Vangst 2022 Salary Guide Insight: Top Paying Cannabis Jobs

More News Articles.

Vangst 2022 Salary Guide Insight: Top Paying Cannabis Jobs

From Neuroscientist to Policy Maker: A Full Circle Story Feat. Tristan Watkins

Live Now: The Vangst 2022 Salary Guide

Proud to Work in Cannabis

Listen to Vangst’s signature podcast.

How Cannabis Can Leverage Independent Work and the ‘Gig Economy’

Can Automation Help Upskill the Cannabis Workforce?

Cannabis Advocates Win Some, Lose Some in 2022 Election

Cannabis: The one thing we all can agree on