With the federal government in the process of legalizing marijuana, universities and colleges across the country are preparing by launching programs and courses on the subject.
In Fall 2017, Niagara College announced a post-graduate certificate program in Commercial Cannabis Production that will begin in the fall of this year and will take place at the college’s Niagara-on-the-Lake campus.
This program is the first post-secondary certification in the production of commercial cannabis, according to an email from Michael Wales, the senior communications officer at Niagara College.
As of January 2018, 285 students have applied for this program, but the initial intake when the program begins in September of 2018 will be 24 students, he added.
Admission requirements include an Ontario College Diploma, an advanced diploma, a degree or equivalent in the areas of horticulture, greenhouse technology or related disciplines, as well as proof of English proficiency.
“There will be a big focus on the hands-on experience of growing cannabis from start to finish including post-harvest process (drying/curing) of the bud,” Alan Unwin, associate dean of Niagara College’s school of environmental and horticultural studies, according to a previous Charlatan article.
Since 2015, Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) in B.C. has offered two seven-week courses for students in order to educate themselves on the challenges and opportunities of Canada’s budding marijuana industry, according to a statement made at the time.
The two courses, ‘Plant Production and Facility Management’ and ‘Marketing, Sales and Drug Development’ were developed with the help from the Canadian National Medical Marijuana Industry Association (CNMMA) and its executive director, Deepak Anand, according to the release.
According to The Globe and Mail, the popularity of these courses is skyrocketing, allowing KPU to offer them more frequently than they did before.
“The uptake in the last six months or so, the demand has risen significantly as we approach recreational legalization, obviously. You can’t go a day without seeing some sort of news about cannabis or regulation of the upcoming recreational market,” David Purcell, the university’s director of emerging business, told The Globe and Mail.
According to Statistics Canada, Canadians spent approximately $5.7 billion on marijuana in 2017, and about 4.9 million Canadians between the ages of 15 to 64 purchased both medical and non-medical marijuana.
Other schools are following suit, by beginning to offer the same type of courses.
Alongside Niagara College and KPU, Durham College is offering a two-day course called ‘Medical Cannabis Fundamentals for Business Professionals.’
Upon completion, students will have learned about the trends of the cannabis industry, be able to identify the anatomy of the plant, recognize appropriate uses for it, and describe the side effects of marijuana, while also learning about the business aspects of medical cannabis, according to their website.
Mya Forsythe, a first-year pre-health student at Durham College, said in an email she would want take part in the course.
“I would take it as a chance to expand my knowledge on the science of marijuana, the production of it, and how one of the most controversial drugs is serving a medicinal and recreational purpose in our society today,” she said.
