Aspiring entrepreneurs and workers in Ohio’s upcoming legal recreational marijuana market have a new path to success with the launch of cannabis certification courses at Kent State University. Designed to give students a solid educational footing in the ins and outs of regulated adult-use cannabis, the first classes in Kent State’s cannabis certification program began this month.

Ohio voters legalized recreational marijuana late last year with the passage of Question 2, a ballot measure that passed with 57% of the vote. State lawmakers are currently debating how and when adult-use cannabis sales will begin in the state, with some legislators calling for a quick launch of recreational weed sales at existing medical marijuana dispensaries.

Kent State is offering the new cannabis certification program to prepare workers and potential business owners to fill job openings and open new businesses as the industry expands to serve a recreational market. The program was developed in collaboration with Green Flower, a California-based company that specializes in developing cannabis education programs. 

“This is an important opportunity for Kent State University to collaborate with a recognized private education provider for training related to the emerging cannabis industry,” Peggy Shadduck, Kent State’s vice president for regional campuses and dean of the College of Applied and Technical Studies, said in a statement from the university. “These on-demand online certificate programs will enable individuals to develop specialized knowledge and skills related to the cannabis industry at their own pace.”

“Trained professionals are needed to fill the jobs that are being created now and that will be created in the future,” Shadduck added.

Kent State’s cannabis training includes four different non-credit certification programs, each consisting of about six months of instruction. All classes are asynchronous and held online.

The Cannabis Healthcare and Medicine Certificate educates healthcare professionals and retail workers so that they can give accurate and helpful information to medical marijuana patients. The Cannabis Agriculture and Horticulture Certificate trainers students who wish to gain employment in weed cultivation.

The Business of Cannabis Certificate gives aspiring business owners and employees knowledge about the particulars of operating an enterprise in the regulated cannabis industry. The Cannabis Compliance and Risk Management Certificate is designed to train regulatory compliance professionals, who are responsible for ensuring businesses follow all relevant laws and regulations. Each program costs $2,950, with enrollment in the programs available online.

Students who complete the program will receive a digital certificate and badge, as well as membership in a cannabis industry employer network. Benefits of membership in the network include virtual career events, priority for new job postings, and other networking opportunities, according to a release from the university cited by the Akron Beacon Journal. 

Ohio’s Growing Weed Industry

Ohio’s medical marijuana program currently has about 179,000 patients, according to data from state cannabis regulators. According to the Vangst 2023 Jobs Report, which tracks cannabis industry employment trends by state and nationwide, Ohio’s legal medical marijuana industry grew by 24% last year, creating more than 1,300 new jobs in the state.

“Even before legalization even took place, Kent State said this is an industry they wanted to help develop the new workforce,” said Max Simon, CEO of Green Flower.

“If you want to play a role as an entrepreneur, a manager, or if you want to play a role servicing these businesses,” Simon told local news media. “I think the timing is perfect for this Kent State program. It’s six months, entirely online. And they will allow people to have an enormous leg up when this industry shapes up, which is planned for next summer.”

Daniel Kalef, chief growth officer at Green Flower, said Kent State is one of the first nonprofit universities in Ohio to offer a cannabis certification program.

“There’s been a tremendous response already,” he said. “More than 40 students have enrolled already after launching two weeks ago. We talked to a lot of schools. Kent State was tremendous. They understood it could be controversial, but they understood the need in the industry.”

Kalef noted that with cannabis still a federally illegal substance, businesses are not allowed to order products produced outside of Ohio. Because of the ban on interstate cannabis commerce, production availability and selection may be limited when the regulated recreational market opens in the state.

“If I sell anything in a dispensary in Ohio, I have to have everything grown and made in Ohio,” he said. “I can’t get marijuana from Kentucky or gummies from Illinois. … It’s a complicated process to take a plant to turn it into something else.”

Last year’s passage of Question 2 made Ohio the 24th state to legalize recreational marijuana for adults. And as more states take the same step, the regulated cannabis industry will continue to grow.

“There are over half a million people working in legal cannabis today [nationwide],” Kalef said. “With the state of Ohio, this will grow even more.”

The post Kent State University Will Offer Cannabis Certification Courses appeared first on High Times.

The post Kent State University Will Offer Cannabis Certification Courses appeared first on Paradise Found.

Last month, the university’s Center for the Science of Psychedelics launched a free, online course titled “Psychedelics and the Mind.” The launch of the course marks another expansion of the Center, which itself launched three years ago.

According to The Daily Californian, the course “will be taught by David Presti, neurobiology professor and one of [Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics] founders.” It will be available for free due to the largess of the Steve and Alexandra Cohen Foundation. 

Steve Cohen, the billionaire owner of the New York Mets, is a longtime advocate of psychedelic research and therapy. In June, the foundation offered a $5 million grant to MAPS, or the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelics Studies, a nonprofit dedicated to researching the potential of psychedelic drugs for medical use.

Imran Khan, the executive director of the Center for the Science of Psychedelics, said that the newly launched course is “an amazing thing,” calling Presti “a legend at Berkeley.”

“When I tell people what I do for a living, they often first respond by telling me how much they loved learning from David in person many years ago. What we’ve done is convert that class into a high-quality multimedia and interactive online version available worldwide for free. It’s a university-level course on the history and science, as we know it, about psychedelics,” Khan said in an interview with the university. 

According to Khan, the course might also be wholly unique.

“As far as we’re aware, there’s no other course like Psychedelics and the Mind that’s comprehensive, free and focused on psychedelic science. It feels like a uniquely Berkeley thing to be able to offer,” Khan said. “We want it to be accessible to as many people as possible, so we plan to continue promoting it. But we also want it to be a baseline so that we can then launch further courses. For example, we’re interested in explaining the medical side of psychedelics, or the connection between psychedelics and particular communities — whether that’s certain racial groups, veterans or people who come from specific professions who want to understand the nature and implications of psychedelics.”

“There’s tremendous potential there for us to continue being that link between what’s happening in research and practice and meeting the need and the desire to know more in the future,” Khan added.

University of California, Berkeley launched the Center for the Science of Psychedelics in September of 2020 thanks to $1.25 million in seed funding from an anonymous donor.

“There’s never been a better time to start a center like this,” Presti said at the time. “The renewal of basic and clinical science with psychedelics has catalyzed interest among many people.”

The Center also counts bestselling author Michael Pollan as one of its co-founders. Pollan’s 2018 book “How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression and Transcendence” was cited as “one of the inspirations for the center.”

“We’re really interested in what psychedelics can teach us about consciousness, perception, creativity and learning,” Pollan said at the time.

“Psychedelics have a particular value later in life, because that is when you are most stuck in your patterns. They give you the ability to shake them loose,” he added.

In June, the Center released a first-of-its-kind poll that showed a significant majority of Americans supporting therapeutic access to psychedelics.

“More than six out of 10 (61%) American registered voters support legalizing regulated therapeutic access to psychedelics, including 35% who report ‘strong’ support,” the university wrote in a press release detailing the poll’s results. “In addition, more than three-quarters of voters (78%) support making it easier for researchers to study psychedelic substances. Almost half (49%) support removing criminal penalties for personal use and possession.”

Khan said at the time that the poll provided “the first clear picture we have of what the American public think and feel about psychedelics.”

“The Berkeley Psychedelics Survey shows that the majority of American voters are interested in, and supportive of, the field. They want fewer barriers to research for scientists, and they want regulated, therapeutic access for the public,” Khan said. “Amidst all the stigma and the hype about these powerful substances, it’s vital that researchers, policymakers, and practitioners can understand and respond to the public’s hopes and fears. We’re excited to reveal the full results of the Berkeley Psychedelics Survey in the coming weeks.”

In the interview with the university published late last month, Khan said that the future of psychedelics in the U.S. remains unknown.

“We’re near the beginning of a journey with psychedelics. These substances have been used for decades, centuries and millennia, in some contexts, and there’s now been this fairly recent resurgence in popular, cultural and research interest in them. We’re so near the beginning of an inquiry that I hope is going to last many more decades. There are questions that we don’t even know enough to ask, at this stage,” Khan said.

The post UC Berkeley Announces Free Online Course for Psychedelic Research appeared first on High Times.

The post UC Berkeley Announces Free Online Course for Psychedelic Research appeared first on Paradise Found.