Marijuana legalization on the 2020 ballot

The 2020 election in Montana will feature a vote on CI-118 and CI-190 which, if voted for, would legalize the use, possession and distribution of marijuana for recreational purposes for people 21 or older.

David Belsky, founder and CEO of FlowerHire, a staffing firm for the hemp and cannabis industries, said he thinks these measures are a step in the right direction for Montana, and that legalization will benefit everyone regardless of whether they’re users or not.

Belsky said there are major benefits to legalization, the first of which is job creation.

Not everyone in Montana is convinced of legalization’s proposed benefits, however.

The Montana Chamber of Commerce recently put out a release announcing their opposition to CI-118 and 190 saying they will have an adverse effect on Montana’s workers.

“Legalizing recreational use of marijuana could have devastating effects on Montana’s strained workforce,” the release said. “ … Studies consistently show marijuana users have significantly lower levels of commitment to their work than non-users and are more absent.”

Belsky said, based on data compiled from Massachusetts and California, every recreational store created in the state of Montana would add an average of 30 jobs.

He said it’s difficult to predict how many jobs would be created by the marijuana and hemp industries in total, but the fact that Montana exists in what he called a cannabis desert, the state in an advantageous position.

He said because many of Montana’s surrounding states don’t have legalized cannabis there will be a market for people out of state, and the fact that Montana already has 200 licensed providers of medical marijuana makes him think Montana is a great place for the industry.

“Eighty to Ninety percent of the jobs would be hourly workers across retail, production and processing facilities,” Belsky said.

The rest would be things like marketing, human resources and back office work, he added.

“If there is an industry that creates jobs across the entire bell curve it is this one,” he said.

Belsky said he is particularly hopeful for the manufacturing side of the industry and said he hopes it will bring back manufacturing jobs to the state, albeit in a different form.

He said another advantage Montana has is that its agricultural workforce is already present and well trained so there will be less need for job training on the employer side and an expanded choice of profession on the employee side.

He said the industry’s growth will also result in increased tax revenue for Montana, which he said is especially important in the era of COVID-19, with government-provided essential services more vital than ever.

He said while medical marijuana is already legal in Montana, its full legalization will also have positive impacts on societal wellness and public safety.

Belsky said legalizing weed will allow law enforcement to devote effort otherwise used to deal with a relatively harmless drug, to more pressing issues of violent crime.

He said he understands that there is still significant push back on the idea of legalizing marijuana, but the past years have seen other states legalize with little issue or fallout.

Belsky said marijuana has suffered an unwarranted stigma in the United States due to a decades-long negative PR campaign, one that has been intertwined with racism against the people whom the drug was perceived to have been more popular amongst at the time, including black jazz musicians and immigrants from Mexico.

“Fortunately, we are at a point where we’re finally getting data,” he said.

Belsky said states that have legalized the drug have since seen less drug overdoses and DUI incidents since then and no resulting uptick in crime.

“I think a lot of the fears about, ‘OK, this industry in here, crime is coming,’ haven’t really played out in the states that are further along,” he said.

He said he understands why it often takes time to shed stigma against the drug, but after legalization states tend to see the stigma go away after one or two years and the results are finally clear.

If there was an epidemic of cannabis overdoses and other such things, he said, people would definitely be hearing about it, given its increasing legalization and the remain stigma that surrounds it.

He said his company FlowerHire generally focuses on six-figure hires for the industry, mostly for legal and finance positions, and those jobs are usually filled by people in conservative, risk averse demographics.

But, he said, he’s found that those people often have heart-warming stories about how a loved one has been helped by the plant and that their minds were changed by seeing their experiences.

He said all these benefits are, however, contingent upon the drug being regulated properly, with products having accurate and clear labeling and watchdogs looking out for bad actors in the industry ensuring people stay safe.

Montana Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd O’Hair disagreed with Belsky’s comments.

O’Hair said the Chamber believes that Montana employers are having trouble finding properly educated and trained workers and the legalization of marijuana will make the problem worse.

“It’s the number one issue, it’s been affecting big businesses, it’s been affecting small businesses, and I think it’s the big limitation to potential growth in Montana,” he said.

He said before the pandemic, a survey the Chamber sent to Montana business owners on workforce development showed that over 30 percent of them said they had turned down business expansion opportunities because of their concerns about not being able to find a quality workforce.

O’Hair said alcoholism is already a problem complicating the issue and legalizing marijuana will only add and additional layer of complication, and the prohibition of marijuana needs to continue for the good of the job market.

He also said Montana should be focusing on helping existing businesses trying to recover in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, not approving the creation of a new industry.