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Medical marijuana inspires ‘cannabis colleges’
Students learn how to grow, distribute plant for legal use
By Adelaide Blanchard
Sunday, December 6, 2009 9:38 p.m.
States with laws permitting the use of medicinal marijuana are seeing an interesting development in the education field — “cannabis colleges” and universities offering courses on the history, growth and use of the plant.
One such example is MedGrow Cannabis College in Southfield, Mich., outside of Detroit, founded last April by 24-year-old Nick Tennant. It is a six-week, $485 primer on medical marijuana with only one required reading: “Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower’s Bible” by Jorge Cervantes, according to the college’s website.
Oaksterdam University is another school in California that teaches those who enroll how to grow medicinal marijuana and better administer it to patients. Salwa Ibrahim, Oaksterdam spokesperson, said some of the classes offered emphasize politics, legal issues, extraction of the marijuana plant and glass blowing.
These classes are not specifically aimed toward health care professionals — they are not only for people curious about the politics and history of medicinal marijuana, but for the caretakers who would benefit from knowing how to grow a crop for their patients to use, Ibrahim said.
In the 12 states where medicinal marijuana is legal, a patient who has been prescribed it can either grow it themselves or have a caretaker grow it for them.
In a statement by California Attorney General Edmund Brown outlining the provisions of the medicinal marijuana law, a caregiver must be responsible for other aspects of their patient’s health and not just be a supplier of the drug.
Gary Storck, co-founder of the Madison branch for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said growing marijuana inside can ruin the crop, and schools like Oaksterdam and MedGrow teach their students how to successfully grow a crop.
“Students learn how provide methods of ingestion. As long as you follow state laws, you can be a caregiver,” Ibrahim said.
The specialized products and methods of ingestion that are being taught in cannabis colleges would create the need for new small businesses and stimulate the economy, Storck said.
Some of the illnesses medicinal marijuana can alleviate include chronic pain, nausea, glaucoma and some allergies.
Oaksterdam has given a certificate of completion, after the 13-week seminar, to approximately 5,500 graduates since the college’s opening in 2007. The certificate sets a standard in the relatively unregulated industry of medicinal marijuana.
They now have a new facility to expand class sizes, Ibrahim said. While they are now not the only such college in the country, they claim to be the first and consider themselves “the Harvard” of cannabis colleges.
“Once the [medicinal marijuana] law is passed [in Wisconsin] there will be a need for this type of education,” Storck said.
Storck added MedGrow Cannabis College has expressed interest in taking some of its classes on the road to Madison as an exposition to showcase its work.
Students learn how to grow, distribute plant for legal use
By Adelaide Blanchard
Sunday, December 6, 2009 9:38 p.m.
States with laws permitting the use of medicinal marijuana are seeing an interesting development in the education field — “cannabis colleges” and universities offering courses on the history, growth and use of the plant.
One such example is MedGrow Cannabis College in Southfield, Mich., outside of Detroit, founded last April by 24-year-old Nick Tennant. It is a six-week, $485 primer on medical marijuana with only one required reading: “Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower’s Bible” by Jorge Cervantes, according to the college’s website.
Oaksterdam University is another school in California that teaches those who enroll how to grow medicinal marijuana and better administer it to patients. Salwa Ibrahim, Oaksterdam spokesperson, said some of the classes offered emphasize politics, legal issues, extraction of the marijuana plant and glass blowing.
These classes are not specifically aimed toward health care professionals — they are not only for people curious about the politics and history of medicinal marijuana, but for the caretakers who would benefit from knowing how to grow a crop for their patients to use, Ibrahim said.
In the 12 states where medicinal marijuana is legal, a patient who has been prescribed it can either grow it themselves or have a caretaker grow it for them.
In a statement by California Attorney General Edmund Brown outlining the provisions of the medicinal marijuana law, a caregiver must be responsible for other aspects of their patient’s health and not just be a supplier of the drug.
Gary Storck, co-founder of the Madison branch for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said growing marijuana inside can ruin the crop, and schools like Oaksterdam and MedGrow teach their students how to successfully grow a crop.
“Students learn how provide methods of ingestion. As long as you follow state laws, you can be a caregiver,” Ibrahim said.
The specialized products and methods of ingestion that are being taught in cannabis colleges would create the need for new small businesses and stimulate the economy, Storck said.
Some of the illnesses medicinal marijuana can alleviate include chronic pain, nausea, glaucoma and some allergies.
Oaksterdam has given a certificate of completion, after the 13-week seminar, to approximately 5,500 graduates since the college’s opening in 2007. The certificate sets a standard in the relatively unregulated industry of medicinal marijuana.
They now have a new facility to expand class sizes, Ibrahim said. While they are now not the only such college in the country, they claim to be the first and consider themselves “the Harvard” of cannabis colleges.
“Once the [medicinal marijuana] law is passed [in Wisconsin] there will be a need for this type of education,” Storck said.
Storck added MedGrow Cannabis College has expressed interest in taking some of its classes on the road to Madison as an exposition to showcase its work.
