5 Places Where You Can Get Your Marijuana Degree

As the cannabis industry continues to grow, there’s a growing need for trained professionals to handle everything from cultivation and manufacturing to finance. Luckily, educational institutions across North America are starting to catch up, offering a variety of courses to help produce a qualified, capable workforce tailored to the cannabis industry. These courses can help students learn more about the complex legal issues surrounding cannabis, grow techniques, business management, and much more. In this article, we take a brief look at 5 places where you can get a marijuana degree.

1. Oaksterdam University, California

Image courtesy of Oaksterdam University.

 

Oaksterdam University in Oakland, California, made headlines a few years ago as the world’s first “cannabis college” offering marijuana degrees in business and horticulture.

 

The former covers the history of cannabis and also dives deeper into the legal, political, scientific and economic issues surrounding the plant and its production and sale.

 

The horticulture course, on the other hand, is for aspiring growers looking to learn everything there is to know about cultivating cannabis from a tiny seed to a big, budding plant. Students get hands-on classes with plants at all stages, and also include labs with grow experts from the Oaksterdam Faculty. The course also covers cultivation law, which is really important so that growers know how to operate under the varying laws around the US.

 

Oaksterdam currently counts with over 30,000 alumni and has built a solid reputation as a leading learning center for everything cannabis related. For more information about the college and its courses, their website is the place to head to.

 

2. Northern Michigan University, Michigan

Image courtesy of NMU.

 

In 2017, Northern Michigan University in Marquette made headlines for being the first accredited undergraduate university to offer a 4-year marijuana degree. The degree, called Medical Plant Chemistry, covers 2 main aspects of medical cannabis; science and economics.

 

The course promises to prepare students to meet the growing need for well-trained and qualified personnel in the cannabis, herbal extract, and natural product industries. It offers foundational courses in chemistry, biology, and botany, while also covering related topics like accounting and business management.

 

There are other universities offering courses on medical cannabis (which we’ll list further down in this article), but NMU is the first to offer a full 4-year degree in this field.

 

3. Kwantlen Polytechnic University, British Columbia

Image courtesy of KPU.

 

Canada is preparing for a full-blown, national legal cannabis scheme, and its educational facilities are slowly preparing to help students break into this new market.

 

Kwantlen Polytechnic University, for example, has launched a number of online courses as part of its Cannabis Career Training program. The classes are short (all under 2 months) but cover a wide variety of topics, including everything from cultivation and sales to finance and even marketing.

 

KPU’s marijuana degree program is held online, making it super accessible. If you’re looking for to take a marijuana degree online, make sure to check out KPU’s Cannabis Career Training program.

 

 

4. Niagara College, Ontario

Image courtesy of Niagara College.

 

Niagara College in Southern Ontario is another institution helping enthusiastic students pave their way in the cannabis industry with their Commercial Cannabis Production certificate.

 

This is a postgraduate course focusing, as the name suggests, on the safe, legal cultivation of cannabis. It covers everything from environmental topics like lighting and climate control to things like plant nutrition, pest control, and more.

 

It will also teach students to run in-depth analysis of their crops and adapt their growth program to get the best possible results come harvest time. Most importantly, students also learn how to grow cannabis in a way that complies with all the regulations of Canada’s legal cannabis program.

 

The course has been created by Niagara College as well as experts from Canopy Growth Corporation, one of the leading producers of cannabis in Canada. The program has been running since September 2017, and enrollment is currently open for January 2018.

 

5. Academy of Applied Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ontario

Image courtesy of AAPS.

 

The Academy Of Applied Pharmaceutical Sciences is a private college based in Toronto. The university, renowned for its pharmacy courses, recently launched a short marijuana degree called Cannabis: Management, Quality, and Laboratory.

 

It’s a 16-week course open to any high school or mature students with a clean criminal record. The first unit in the course is cannabis regulation, aimed at prepping students with an overview of the legal framework governing the Canadian cannabis market.

 

Then, students move on to learn about plant production, grow techniques, the medical use of cannabis and more. The course also covers edibles (via the unit on Cannabis In Food Production) as well as business management.

 

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