Legalization of marijuana for medical use in 14 states has resulted in the establishment of a new type of university. "Cannabis colleges" dedicated to the study of marijuana and the cannabis trade industry are popping up across the nation.
Richard Lee founded the first one of these institutions, Oaksterdam University, in November 2007 in Oakland, Calif. According to Dale Clare, the executive chancellor of Oaksterdam, the university flourished from a collection of businesses in the Oakland area, where medical-necessity patients who use cannabis are abundant.
Lee started the institution by running a provocative advertisement in an alternative newspaper that read, "Cannabis Industry Now Hiring." The ad quickly attracted the attention of the media and more applicants than there were available spaces.
"The premise of Oaksterdam University is to provide quality training for the cannabis industry. It reaches out far beyond than what people mostly come for ... which is learning how to grow cannabis," Clare said. "The most important focus is to be politically and locally involved. You have to stay active and be part of the government. We want to be part of the solution, not the problem."
Classes started to grow in size, and soon the university began to offer semester-long courses. Today, the faculty of Oaksterdam University is made up of people who were important promoters of the legalization of medical marijuana in California and who continue to be active supporters of the wider legalization, taxation and regulation of the cannabis industry.
The Oaksterdam curriculum consists of several prerequisite classes that every student has to take before learning how to actually grow cannabis. These classes include "Federal Vs State Law," in which students are taught the differences between state and federal law so they know how to operate legally; "Politics and History," which provides a well-rounded knowledge of the historical events that have changed the cannabis industry; and "Legal Rights," in which students learn their rights and responsibilities as citizens so they know how they how much cannabis they can carry and what is required to become a qualified, legal user of medical marijuana.
Once students take all the prerequisites, they can start taking more advanced, hands-on classes such as "Horticulture" and "Methods of Ingestion" in which they are taught how to grow and consume cannabis. "The prerequisites can keep you out of jail," Clare said. "We don't teach black and white; we teach practices."
According to Clare, Oaksterdam goes further than just teaching students how to grow cannabis. "Medical cannabis has been around for decades, and there was no one to teach people on how to be responsible," she said. "We are teaching them how to be good neighbors."
Clare said that skepticism about the university's mission has not been a major issue. "Some people just laugh about it, but [that's] about the worst reaction I've seen. Officers all think it's a good idea that we are teaching students how to be safe and responsible," she said.
"The folks on the ground still need support, and even people that don't agree with recreational consumers agree that patients that are using it as medicine need to learn to do it responsibly. We are showing them how to do it right, and despite issues, they still want dispensaries to be well trained and to follow the law," Clare said.
Due to high demand, the school has added three more campuses: one in Los Angeles, one in North Bay, Calif. and one in Michigan.
"There is definite interest, and the problem is we have few people trying to do a lot of stuff. We are creating this program as we go, and it's been very exciting. We have expanded not only in location, but our programs have expanded. Now you can come back and take entire semester programs," Clare said. "We are taking the knowledge itself to a whole other level."
Oaksterdam's first campus has grown from a small university that started off with a packed classroom and a couple dozen students. It now has a 30,000 square-foot campus, several classrooms, two auditoriums, a grow lab and a theater. Since its opening, approximately 5,000 students have studied at Oaksterdam's three campuses in California, a state where more than 300,000 patients can legally buy cannabis from more than 700 dispensaries.
"Expansion is probably inevitable because we just try to keep up with demand, and that is the solution. Our main focus is in California, but after this year, we might branch out a little more," Clare said.
Although Oaksterdam was the first school centered on cannabis, several others have followed. MedGrow Cannabis College in Michigan, for example, is among these new institutions. Its mission is to uphold the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act by teaching students how to provide quality marijuana and how to be successful in the medical marijuana industry while staying within the law.
According to a recent article by the Washington Post, MedGrow president Nick Tennant started the school as a reaction to the current financial situation that caused his business to go down. When searching for an industry that is currently growing without limits, he says he found that answer in medical marijuana.
Clare explains that the cannabis industry is a very popular subject and that as a reaction, many learning opportunities have flourished. However, Clare explained that in some of these learning opportunities, universities teach students how to do grow cannabis, but they don't teach them the ramifications of doing so. "Our concern is that this is still a movement and a civil rights issue before it is an industry," Clare said. "Still, several new institutions are proper, and several founders are alumni from Oaksterdam who are teaching responsibility under state law."
Being a medical marijuana caregiver has become a popular profession, especially in the current financial situation, in which unemployment rates are so high. Through these different institutions a person can get a degree as a medical marijuana caregiver, so that he or she can distribute to state-certified patients.
"If medical marijuana is legal in certain states, I don't see why it cannot be a possible profession for someone. By doing it, you are helping others, you are working and you are not breaking the law," a Tufts student and recreational cannabis user who wished to remain anonymous, said.
In addition to Michigan and California, Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington have also legalized the use of medical marijuana.
The creation of these schools has caught the attention of the media. Oaksterdam has been covered by such organizations as Fox News, National Geographic and CNBC. The coverage has been mostly positive, according to Oaksterdam's website. Despite this, the existence of "cannabis colleges" certainly invites debate.
"I do not agree that a student's only experience with higher education [should be] focused only in weed, even if you learn all aspects about it. If someone wants to specialize in growing weed legally, go for it, but it certainly can't replace normal college," another Tufts student, who also wished to remain anonymous, said.
Another anonymous cannabis-using Tufts student supported Oaksterdam's mission because he supports the wider legalization of cannabis use for recreational users. However, he noted that the push to legalize medical marijuana in more states is still important.
"It's certainly important. You should understand that it's the best way for patients undergoing chemotherapy to get their appetites back," the student said.
Some argue that universities such as these are taking higher education to a new level, while others support the fact that these schools will help the marijuana industry become more prominent and professional.
"Quality training is needed across the cannabis industry, which is affecting multiple aspects of today's main commerce," Clare said.
