“Automation is taking over! Robots are stealing jobs!”

Yeah, yeah, we’ve all heard it before. But here’s the deal: robots aren’t here to take your cannabis job. They’re here to handle the boring, repetitive stuff so you can do cooler, higher-paying work.

Cannabis has always been a people-first industry and some parts of the job kinda suck. If you’ve ever had to hand-infuse pre-rolls for hours on end, you know what we’re talking about. Cannabis automation isn’t about cutting jobs; it’s about making them better.

Is working in cannabis a cool job now? In 2024, the legal cannabis industry saw a significant uptick in jobs, gaining 22,952 additional positions. Today, there are approximately 440,445 full-time equivalent jobs in the cannabis space. 

Armed with a degree in aerospace engineering and a stint at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Partansky initially seemed destined to remain among the stars. However, his drive to solve real-world problems brought him back to Earth. In 2018, he and his co-founder launched Sorting Robotics with just $6,000 in seed money. The company initially focused on developing automation technologies for other industries, testing the waters of robotics in various sectors.

Innovation often begins with a problem to solve. For Sorting Robotics, the spark of inspiration came from cannabis producers struggling with the operational challenges of kief-coated joints. This year, Sorting Robotics has earned a well-deserved spot among the winners of the 2024 CannaTech Innovation Awards for their product Stardust.

The SAFE Act. Rescheduling. The Farm Bill. A new presidential administration. Nobody can predict the future of cannabis regulations — but we asked a few experts to try anyway.

Marijuana Venture spoke with several entrepreneurs and operators in the cannabis space to get their predictions for 2025. Part 2 of this four-part series will cover cannabis policy.

Ask questions about AI to potential new hires. We value candidates who make it through our hiring process to our on-site interviews. These onsite interviews typically have a presentation component and it is always a positive for us when someone explains how and why they used AI as a tool to complete the project. Be mindful, however, about having AI do all the work. Trust me we know what to look for.