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Like most universities, posters and artwork line the halls of the Cleveland School of Cannabis. Except that the main difference here lies in what is on the posters: marijuana.
The Cleveland School of Cannabis prepares students to work in the marijuana industry by providing hands-on experience in the school’s grow room, dispensary, and culinary lab.
“We don’t sit around smoking all day,” said Nicole Fenix, the school’s director of education. “We have fun, but it’s just like any other educational institution.”
The school expects Ohio’s cannabis industry to boom if Issue 2 passes next week.
The citizens’ initiative would legalize and regulate the cultivation, manufacturing, testing and sale of marijuana to Ohioans 21 and older. It would also legalize home cultivation for Ohioans 21 and older with a limit of six plants per person and 12 plants per residence, and impose a 10% point-of-sale tax on each transaction.
A recent Ohio State University Drug Enforcement and Policy Center study estimates that potential annual tax revenue from marijuana legalization ranges from $276 million to $403 million in the fifth year of a functioning cannabis market.
Although Fenix is excited that No. 2 is on the ballot, she said the news from the opposition is discouraging.
“You feel like you’re making great progress, and then you hear all this rhetoric coming back,” Fenix said. “It’s a shame that (marijuana has) been ostracized and vilified for as long as it has.”
Protect Ohio Workers and Families, the opposition to marijuana legalization, predicts Ohio will see 48 additional fatal vehicle crashes and 2,298 additional injury crashes if voters approve Issue 2, based on projections using the statistics Ohio Department of Public Safety accident reports and insurance searches. Highway Safety Institute.
“Legalizing marijuana use also leads to public safety concerns, including a higher percentage of fatal car crashes directly attributed to marijuana-impaired drivers,” said Delaware County Sheriff Jeff Balzer , in a press release. video to protect Ohio workers and families.
Doug Berman, executive director of the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center at Ohio State University, previously told According to the Capital Journal, it’s difficult to say whether this will actually happen, saying: “It’s a lot more nuanced.” »
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, who opposes cannabis legalization, has previously said that “this is not your grandfather’s marijuana.”
Fenix agrees with the governor’s assessment.
“Now we’re testing it to make sure it’s safe,” Fenix said. “It’s regulated, it’s better quality, it’s going to have more medicinal effects. …The cannabis industry is a science from growing the plant to how the plant works in the body to processing. So chemistry, biology and a little physics.
Cleveland School of Cannabis
CSC opened in 2017, a year after medical marijuana was legalized in Ohio, but the state’s first dispensary didn’t open until 2019.
Students do not smoke marijuana in class and it is not a licensed cultivator or dispensary, so the school does not grow or sell medical marijuana. The school instead uses hemp which is destroyed once fully used.
The school has received state approval from the Ohio State Board of Career College and Schools and its certificate program teaches students in five different areas: cannabis dispensaries, cannabis horticulture, cannabis processing cannabis, industrial hemp and medical applications of cannabis. There is also an executive program, which is a combination of all five certificate programs.
CSC’s tuition ranges from $7,500 to $14,000 and it is the only state-approved professional school for cannabis education east of Colorado.
The school — which offers a mix of in-person and online classes — typically has between 130 and 150 students per term. More than 900 students have graduated from the school, with a graduation rate of 82%.
“Our students have a good foundation for understanding what their job will be,” Fenix said.
SCC has limited its in-person classes to 24 students and is trying to keep its online classes between 30 and 35 students. They offer six-week terms and six terms are offered per year.
A sample course includes, but is not limited to, cannabis history, dispensary operations, cannabis and CBD laws and policies. Some of the career options pursued by graduates include master grower, cannabis gardener, dispensary manager, and cultivation consultant, to name a few.
Although the majority of their students are from Ohio, it is not uncommon for an out-of-state student to attend. One student drives in from Pittsburgh every day, Fenix said. Most of their graduates stay in Ohio after graduation, but sometimes students move west to find employment.
Although the school generally attracts young adults and those just out of high school, SCC also welcomes people in their 30s and 40s looking to change careers. Students must be 18 or older to take classes, but the marijuana industry only hires people 21 and older.
From High School Teacher to Marijuana Educator
Education is the foundation of Fenix. She previously taught at an alternative high school and also worked with homeschooled students.
But her introduction to cannabis began when her son began using medical marijuana to help treat his ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation and sores in the digestive tract.
“I was really able to learn about medicinal cannabis through my son,” Fenix said. “It was just a big eye-opener.”
She started working at CSC at the end of 2017, the same year the school opened.
“I strongly believe in cannabis as medicine,” Fenix said.
Ohio Medical Marijuana
There are 29 active dispensary licenses, but 104 operating certificates as of Sept. 21, according to the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program.
Twenty-three Ohio cultivators received Tier I provisional licenses and 21 received operating certificates. Fourteen received provisional Tier II licenses and 13 received operating certificates.
There have been 822,760 patient referrals using medical marijuana (a patient can have more than one referral), 391,692 patients have registered, and 182,068 patients have both an active registration and an active referral.
Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. The Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact editor David DeWitt with any questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com. Follow the Ohio Capital Journal on Facebook And Twitter.
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