Interesting look at job-creation aspects of Arkansas medical marijuana reform (with a notable developing national story)

This local new article form Arkansas, headlined "Medical marijuana industry expected to bring new jobs to Arkansas," provides an effective and thorough accounting of an important economic development element of marijuana reform. For that reason, I recommend the piece in full, and the excerpt below includes a bit of extra national news highlighted below that strikes me as especially notable:

A one-man testing lab in Greenbrier is poised to add up to seven employees, spend more than $1 million on equipment and buy several vehicles to capitalize on the coming sale of medical marijuana in Arkansas.  Kyle Felling, the owner of F.A.S.T. Laboratories, is one part of a burgeoning medical marijuana industry that's expected to create hundreds of jobs in Arkansas, according to industry experts and representatives....

In-state dispensaries and cultivation facilities are expected to provide the bulk of the jobs.  However, other services, like lab testing, are essential for the medical marijuana market to function.  Storm Nolan, president of the Arkansas Cannabis Industry Association, said he expects between 500 and 600 people to be employed where marijuana is grown and sold in the near term....

David Couch, the Little Rock lawyer who sponsored the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment that was approved by voters in November, said he eventually expects 1,500 jobs or more in dispensaries and cultivation facilities.  Nolan and Couch said hundreds more jobs are expected in ancillary businesses, like F.A.S.T. Laboratories....

The accuracy of job estimates is expected to improve with time.  The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics will begin releasing data Sept. 6 under an updated jobs classification system that details marijuana wholesalers, stores and grower employment, David Hiles, an economist with the bureau, said in an email. ...

Specialty companies will be needed to ship, test, market, enforce, track, insure, construct, lobby, inspect, secure and bank in the industry.  However, it's an open question whether many of the businesses will be locally owned.  While the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission mandated that dispensaries and cultivation facilities be majority owned by Arkansans, there's no similar requirement for the businesses that will serve them.

James Yagielo, chief executive of Florida-based HempStaff, said many end up being from out of state.  "There are always some ancillary businesses," he said.  "A lot of them -- like us -- are national, but you do get some that pop up."  Nolan said he expects more ancillary businesses to enter the market as the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission develops licenses for transportation, distribution and processing.  Those licenses remain on the to-do list of the commission, which currently is taking applications for dispensaries and growers....

Michael Pakko, chief economist at the Arkansas Economic Development Institute at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said the nature of the marijuana business -- highly regulated with dispensaries and cultivation facilities required to each have unique ownership -- is costly, but can also provide additional employment....

Entry-level jobs include trimming marijuana at around $10 an hour.  Assistant growers, who plant and nourish marijuana, will earn $15 to $20 per hour.  Master growers, who manage operations, will make between $40 to $60 per hour....  Most dispensaries start with around five employees....  Each store's general manager will earn around $20 per hour. Dispensary agents, who interact with patients, will make $12 to $15 per hour.

While hundreds of jobs are expected to be created in the medical marijuana industry -- on par with a large state economic development project -- Arkansans may not feel the same impact because the jobs will be spread throughout the state, Pakko said.  "Five hundred to 600 jobs -- that would be a pretty good economic development project, but in the overall scheme of things, that's not a very large percentage of Arkansas' workforce or employment base," he said.  "Now in the local communities where those jobs are going to be, it can be a big deal.  It can be a significant impact."

In this MassRoots posting back in February, Tom Angell reported that the "U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revealed to MassRoots that it will soon begin tracking cannabis sector employment ... [but] added that it won’t necessarily release any numbers."  It would now appear that BLS has data it is prepared to release in only a matter of weeks.  That strikes me as a very interesting and important development that will, among other things, make it much easier for the mainstream media to see and report on the seemingly significant job-creation realities of the emerging marijuana industry.