Nevada voters first approved adult-use cannabis legalization in 2016 on Election Day along with California, Massachusetts, and Maine. Since that time, Nevada’s cannabis industry has grown considerably, although the overall size of the Nevada market fluctuates.
Cannabis industry data company Headset reports that Nevada’s legal cannabis industry sold roughly $60.5 million worth of cannabis products in April 2024 alone, with “the average item price across all categories settled at $20.92.”
People aspiring to work in Nevada’s emerging cannabis industry do not have a lot of options when it comes to college cannabis industry courses, with the University of Nevada, Reno being the only university to currently offer cannabis courses.
“As the marijuana industry continues to grow in Nevada, there’s a new effort to train the workforce. Helping to build on that, The University of Nevada, Reno will now be the first college in Nevada to offer cannabis education.” KOLO8 stated in its local coverage.
The University of Nevada, Reno partnered with cannabis education company Green Flower to develop the university’s cannabis curriculum. Cannabis industry classes start at the University of Nevada, Reno in June.
St. Cloud State University in Minnesota is another college that offers such courses, and according to initial reporting by KSTP, “more than 300 students have enrolled in its cannabis certificate program since it started last year, according to Green Flower, which developed the curriculum.”
There are five cannabis classes available at St. Cloud State University – cannabis healthcare and medicine, cannabis agriculture and horticulture, the business of cannabis, cannabis compliance and risk management, and cannabis product development and design. The University of Nevada, Reno will offer similar courses.
“We just added the cannabis product development and design program, which teaches people basically the manufacturing, formulation and product development side of the industry,” said Max Simon, the CEO of Green Flower according to KSTP.
According to the State of Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board, as of May 2024 there are 674 total medical and recreational operational licenses/certificates statewide. Additionally, as of December 2023, there were 15,435 registered agent card holders in Nevada’s cannabis industry.
The United States adult-use cannabis industry has generated over $20 billion in total tax revenue since the first legal recreational cannabis purchase was made in Colorado on January 1st, 2014 according to a new report by the Marijuana Policy Project.
“Through the first quarter of 2024, states have reported a combined total of more than $20 billion in tax revenue from legal, adult-use cannabis sales. In 2023 alone, legalization states generated more than $4 billion in cannabis tax revenue from adult-use sales, which is the most revenue generated by cannabis sales in a single year.” the Marijuana Policy project stated in a press release.
Total legal cannabis sales in the United States are expected to reach $31.4 billion in 2024 according to a recent analysis by Whitney Economics. Additionally, leading cannabis jobs platform Vangst, in conjunction with Whitney Economics, estimates that the legal cannabis industry now supports 440,445 full time-equivalent cannabis jobs in the United States.
Whitney Economics also projects the following legal cannabis sales figures in the United States for the coming years:
- 2024: $31.4 billion (9.1% growth from 2023)
- 2025: $35.2 billion (12.1% growth from 2024)
- 2030: $67.2 billion
- 2035: $87.0 billion
The emerging legal cannabis industry in the United States is projected to add roughly $112 billion to the nation’s economy in 2024 according to a newly released analysis by MJBiz Daily. The projection is part of the company’s 2024 MJBiz Factbook.
“The total U.S. economic impact generated by regulated marijuana sales could top $112.4 billion in 2024, about 12% more than last year,” MJBiz stated in its initial reporting.