3 As cannabis is legalized, lawmakers have a unique opportunity to decide whether the industry will be allowed to take this low-road path, or whether guardrails and incentives will make cannabis an industry of high-quality careers and worker-driven success. industries-dominated by strictly profit-maximizing firms that treat workers as expendable cogs or simply another cost to be minimized, employing myriad strategies to keep wages low and undermine worker power. The risks of inaction are high: Without proper structures and safeguards in place at the outset, cannabis could end up looking like many other U.S. Success will require that workers have a voice in informing that evolution. Moreover, as with any new business, the needs and best practices for training, workplace safety, and efficient operations will all be evolving as the industry matures. Policies must be put in place at the outset to ensure that cannabis employees share equitably in the growth of the industry, with good-paying, safe, family- and community-sustaining jobs. No matter how many business owners of color the industry creates, there will be many multiples more rank-and-file workers in the industry. 2 Ensuring equitable access to business licenses and proper supports for entrepreneurs is essential, but insufficient. While many policy discussions around cannabis have rightly noted the need to channel investment and entrepreneurial opportunities in this new industry to the communities harmed by the war on drugs, very little has been said about ensuring that jobs in the cannabis industry are good jobs. 1 Several recent federal cannabis legalization bills include provisions for the reinvestment of new federal revenues from cannabis into services and supports for communities most harmed by the war on drugs, and measures to support entrepreneurship in the industry by individuals previously convicted for cannabis-related offenses. Forecasters expect rapid growth, with the potential for large numbers of new cannabis jobs and businesses to be formed.ДЄs the authors of federal legalization legislation have noted, legalizing and regulating cannabis also presents a tremendous opportunity to shape the contours of the industry from its early days: Specifically, establishing structures within the industry can help repair the harm caused by the criminalization of communities of color, predominantly Black and Latinx communities, in the war on drugs. Although the industry has been taking shape for years in many states, this change in federal legal status for cannabis will be a watershed moment. Senate released a discussion draft legalization bill, and in late 2020 the House of Representatives passed a legalization bill with strong social equity provisions. A majority of states allow some form of cannabis use, and several decriminalization and industry-supportive bills have gained bipartisan support in Congress. Since CaliforniaвЂ™s authorization of medical marijuana use in 1996, public support for cannabis legalization has steadily grown, with more than two-thirds of Americans now supportive of legalization (Brenan 2020). These agreements help protect workersвЂ™ collective bargaining rights, allowing them to choose-without employer interference-whether they want to form a union.ДЇederal legalization of the cannabis industry appears likely to happen within the next few years. State and federal lawmakers should follow the lead of states that require or encourage the use of labor peace agreements (LPAs) when issuing cannabis business licenses. What we can do about it: Protecting workersвЂ™ collective bargaining rights in any broader legalization of cannabis is the best way to ensure cannabis jobs are good jobs. But if policymakers do not include measures protecting job quality in cannabis, workers-particularly workers of color-will suffer. Why it matters: Many proposals for federal legalization have rightly noted the need to prioritize revenues, investments, and opportunities from a newly legalized industry for communities of color harmed most by the war on drugs. Cannabis workers in the high-road scenario could make an estimated $2,810 to $8,690 more per year than under the low-road scenario. Under the high-road scenario, unionization ensures that cannabis jobs are good jobs. Under the low-road scenario outlined in this report, cannabis workers are subject to the same harmful practices inflicted on nonunionized workers in agriculture and other industries with parallels to cannabis: low wages, few workplace benefits, unprotected statuses as contract workers, and erratic scheduling. What this report finds: There are many potential paths for cannabis workers under broader cannabis legalization likely to come.

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