Earlier this week, the U.S News and World Report published their report of the “125 Best Places to Live” and if access to recreational cannabis wasn’t a considered factor in determination, I’d be greatly surprised as five of the top ten cities are located in American states with recreational legalization in place. San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Colorado Springs all received their rightfully deserved spots in the Top Ten. However, none of the aforementioned cities that are world renowned in their own unique ways ended up placing in the ultra coveted Top Two spots.
For the Top Two spots, U.S. News and World Report picked two of the top cities with the most canna-business and hemp/CBD industry potential, albeit for different reasons. While I’m not entirely sure that a non-cannabis affiliated group like U.S News and World Report would incorporate “cannabis access and economic potential” as a deciding factor, it’s nothing short of a very strange coincidence that Austin and Denver received the Top Two spots respectively while becoming increasingly known for their cannabis endeavors.
Yes, I’ll address the metaphorical elephant in the room and state the obvious. Cannabis is still completely illegal, both recreationally and medically, in Austin as well as the entirety of The Lone Star State. Even though it’s the capitol of a state that’s become a political battleground for decriminalization and medical cannabis legislation, full recreational legalization on par with Colorado and California is still a longshot for Texas.
Although when hell freezes over and cannabis reform is enacted on either the state of federal level, Austin may become the Southern mecca of marijuana. For starters, the city is miles ahead in progressivism compared to the rest of Texas when it comes to cannabis legal reform. Austin, along with Houston, effectively have decriminalization efforts in place that keep low-level offenders out of jail and facing the accompanying lifetime of unnecessary penalties.
And while Millennials may apparently be destroying industries like Thanos destroyed The Avengers, from diamonds to somehow both the wedding and divorce industries simultaneously, they’re certainly keeping the “moving to Austin” industry alive. The percentage of Millennials living in Austin based on the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey is about 24.6 percent. And if there’s a new industry that the avocado toast-crazed age demographic have taken a particular liking in aspects of working in and frequently purchasing the products of, it’s cannabis.
A recent survey by Yahoo News said that Millennials are the majority of cannabis consumers, at 52 percent compared to the other demographics which have a combined percentage of 48 (2).
At Austin’s annual mega-festival of music, film, business and technology lovingly called South By Southwest, there were more than 25 conferences about canna-businesses, how America as a society can be rebuild from the obviously failed War on Drugs and the complicated and convoluted legal matters to starting a canna-business. So while Austin might not have the advantage of legalized recreational cannabis, The Live Music Capital of The World undoubtedly have an excellent groundwork laid in place for when recreational legalization becomes a reality.
Let’s now venture to the Rockies, where Denver has become an unofficial “Mecca of Marijuana”. Being one of the first major cities to legalize adult recreational cannabis usage, Denver has had over half a decade to build a foundation upon their legal market. And while no industry is perfect, the cannabis industry in Colorado has created several thousands of jobs, with a Washington Post article in 2016 citing over 18,000 canna-jobs created in 2015. (3)
There’s no conceivable way to determine the number of the 17.4 million overnight tourists who visited Denver in 2017 specifically for cannabis reasons, the high number of cannabis-related activities, Loopr busses and Colorado Cannabis Tours for example, geared towards canna-tourists are a glaring example of the influence of the cannabis industry within the city. And for the Millennial demographic residing in Denver, the percentage sits at a comfortable 22 percent, only a negligible three percent below Austin.
Although, both of these wildly popular cities have experienced exponential cost of living and property value increases. Even though these two cities may have ample either cannabis professional opportunities or cannabis potential and excursions for enjoyment, the higher costs of living will have to be something for aspiring Austinites and Denverites to consider.