Want to learn how to grow pot? How to bake marijuana cheesecake? What to say to police if you’re caught with a dime bag? A new trade school in California is offering certification for students interested in jobs in cannabis culture.
Digital Journal — Marijuana activists and curious cannabis lovers can now achieve “higher” learning at a groundbreaking college to prepare people for the medicinal marijuana industry. California’s Oaksterdam University is a new trade school teaching students the legal issues behind pot policy, how to cultivate and cook cannabis, and how to effectively “budtend” at one of the many dispensaries dotting the progressive state.
So far, 500 people have enrolled at Oaksterdam University, located in a 15th Street building in Oakland. The two-day weekend course costs $200, and the curriculum is filled with topics familiar to any High Times reader: Horticulture 101 explains how to produce cannabis from start to harvest, covering processes such as watering, lighting, ventilation and pest control. Cannabusiness 102 discusses how to break into the med-pot industry, from starting a commercial grow to putting the finishing touches on a cannabis edibles company.
Danielle Schumacher, chancellor of Oaksterdam University, told DigitalJournal.com in an interview, “Our school shows how the pot industry is growing up fast and it’s not going away anytime soon. It can be professionalized and possibly standardized.”
She says the school, which began in November 2007, isn’t a concern for local police because “cannabis arrests are a low enforcement priority in California right now.” Students don’t need to worry about cops cracking down on them, she adds, especially in a state filled with more than 400 dispensaries (also called “compassion clubs”) selling medicinal marijuana to sick patients.
“The culture is ahead of the laws,” Schumacher says. “We’re not involved in activities like federal distribution or trafficking, and we just have a few plants to show students.”
When asked how many plants OaksterdamU has, Schumacher declined to comment.
So what are the benefits of a certification from the med-pot trade school? Schumacher says many students want to learn “personal growing techniques” while others graduate feeling closer to the activist side of the marijuana community. “We’re a political hub here in Oakland, so we like to keep students in the loop about area non-profits and meetings at City Hall.”
A glance at the faculty list is a good indicator of the political layers behind the school: Cannabusiness instructor Richard Raich practiced law with the Federal Election Commission; Politics professor Dennis Peron is known as a pioneer in cannabis legal issues during the 1990s; and guest speaker Ed Rosenthal has been offering growing advice to pot fans for decades, authoring several books on the subject.
OaksterdamU’s reputation is gaining attention so quickly the school was forced to open another facility in Los Angeles. Schumacher says the first-come-first serve school is completely booked until August due to the “overwhelming demand.”
Schumacher has noticed how even the most advanced cannabis culture vulture has learned from the school’s lessons. “Some students come to class with lots of attitude, claiming the money they spent won’t teach them anything new. But within 15 minutes they’re blown away by the high standards of each course and the amount of info we’re dishing out.”
For more information on Oaksterdam University, visit their website.
