While some companies like Canopy Growth (NASDAQ: CGC) are laying off employees by the hundreds, Slang Worldwide (OTC: SLGWF) is doing the opposite. This quietly growing cannabis brand company is adding jobs and the state of Colorado couldn’t be happier because the company decided to move its headquarters there.

“Colorado continues to be the epicenter of the growing cannabis industry, so we’re excited by the company’s smart decision to relocate and create jobs in our beautiful state,” said Governor Jared Polis. “Colorado’s cannabis industry offers strong growth potential and this move speaks volumes about our state’s cannabis industry and community as a whole.” The state competed against California and Oregon for the jobs. Slang already has 75 people on the payroll in their existing offices in Denver, which serves as their U.S. home base, and Boulder which will now be expanded. The move will create 43 new jobs with an average annual wage of $75,000 and are expected to include positions like lab technicians, project management, and other production-related positions.

“We applaud Governor Polis and the Office of Economic Development and International Trade for once again being leaders in cannabis policy,” said Chris Driessen, President, and CEO of Slang Worldwide. “Colorado was already a core market for us, so with these incentives from the state it only made sense for us to double down on our commitment to the place that so many of us, including myself, call home.”

The Economic Development Commission voted at its September 17, 2020 meeting to approve up to $584,399 in job-growth incentive tax credits over the next eight years. This is the first time Colorado has offered performance-based incentives to a cannabis company.

“Slang Worldwide’s selection of Colorado marks the next step of responsible growth within Colorado’s cannabis industry, a priority area for our office and this administration,” said Betsy Markey, executive director of Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade. “We are encouraged by the growth potential of this vertical. Slang provides additional linkages between Colorado suppliers and broader consumer markets while growing our production and R&D profile.”

Canopy Growth Tax Incentives

For the past year and a half, Canopy has been laying off employees by the hundreds and scaling back much of its business. The company received a property tax credit from the state of New York in 2019 for its industrial hemp processing plant located in upstate Kirkwood. The company was given a standard 15-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement that will trim the property tax bill by more than $1.7 million over the life of the agreement. Under the terms of the proposed deal, Canadian-based Canopy is set to get a 39% reduction in property taxes over the first five years of the 15-year term of the agreement. Canopy said it would hire 75 workers at the facility with salaries between $30,000-$50,000. While Canopy exited its Springfield NY location, as of November, Kirkwood is still under construction. According to WNBF, the project is actually nearing completion.