After years of growth, Alaska’s cannabis industry appears to be hitting a plateau, with the pace of employment and tax revenue increases leveling off.on Alaska’s economic trends by the state’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development, which finds the industry has “matured” since last evaluated.
Though the industry averaged 1,566 jobs associated with cannabis in 2021, bringing with them $48.3 million in wages to employees, state analysts believe that may be an undercount, noting that currently there are “7,000 active marijuana handler permits, which is a rough proxy for the number of people who have participated in the industry in some way within the last three years.”
A cannabis sativa flower from the Tropicana Cherry strain grows at the Enlighten Alaska cultivation facility in Midtown Anchorage in 2021. The report notes that federal prohibitions on cannabis make for a lot of challenges, particularly in Alaska given how much of the state is not connected by roads.
The permits were pretty expensive, nonetheless initial competition was pretty tight. Hopefully my preferred shop doesn't jack up prices when weaker shops get shaken out. Still federal reserve CBDC on the horizon could waste the entire industry, and with it state revenue.
As did suicides, homelessness, and poor mental health.