Cannabis education

I wanted to know if anyone can recommend any specific major’s in college to pursue related to growing and extracting cannabis or any places that have classes or training programs that will train extracting, growing, buisness, etc. that are quality?

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Botany as major with chemistry as sub
Extracting is for the weekends

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Bio chem and organic chem majors can have a great understanding for extraction.

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I went to Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. I received my B.S. in Botany and a Chemistry Minor. I also did the Master Gardener Program (a certification and not a M.S. degree, also 100% unrelated to the controversial term “Master Grower”) from Utah State University, Utah’s Land Grant University. The professors at both universities are more than willing to discuss cannabis and hemp and will direct your learning in that direction. One graduate at WSU actually did his thesis on hemp fiber production and is now head grower at a Utah medical cultivator. I enjoyed WSU and being a state university made it very affordable.

My 2 cents; for whatever reason, be prepared for a lot of people in the cannabis industry to not give one single damn about your degrees or certifications. I agree that there is no substitute for experience in any field, but a formal education followed by gain of experience allows you to understand the process more rapidly. Interpersonal skills and knowing your worth ease this issue. My advising professor at WSU made it very clear that the money in the future won’t be in growing but in extraction. I suggest a Chemistry Major with a Botany Minor.

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Northern Michigan University established the first US degree in Medicinal Plant Science. Its allegedly a difficult program.

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I understand why you recommend botany, but with the way the market is moving, I’m a bigger fan of agronomy or horticulture for large scale production. Plus, good dirt equals happy plants.

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Well my affection go s to thc rich cultivar for wich there will always stay a niche market of lady s treated with care and love :wink:

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You would love Michigan’s microbusiness license. It allows for the cultivation, extraction, and on site retail of 150 plants.

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Yeah, I would agree that agronomy or horticulture would also be solid majors. I guess it really all depends on personal preference of what niche you want to attack. USU offers a M.S. in Horticulture that I’ve been considering going into but I never took the GRE and since I graduated in 2013 I’ve gone slightly gooey brain towards formal academia. I’ve also still got access to the library system at WSU :grin:

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Do you have to show business plan, proof of start up funds for so long and all that paperwork to get this lisence or is it just mainly the cost of the lisence and your good?

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Open to MI residents only for the first two years, licensing fee’s are around $11,000 I believe, and it requires a review of a years worth of finances. The regulatory website is such a mess I don’t feel like searching so: Interested In A Microbusiness License in Michigan? | Get Free Consultation

Edit: Isn’t it cute that you can be too poor to make money?

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Looks like another 5-10k to have a lawyer and business plan/model laid out. That’s a rough guess.

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Yup. Can’t have the poor people who used to get arrested for smoking it, growing it.

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I imagine that’s why they want your financials from the last year. They don’t want any BM people coming in the game. Imagine your street level dealer working at McDonalds for a year just to have legit finances. “Would you like some rosin with that burger sir”.

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I’ll probably have to partner with a family member when the time comes unfortunately. I was hoping the cost would be significantly less so I could do it on my own.

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I majored in Botany with minors in Plant Biology and Environmental Science at Purdue University. To me it was worth it to learn everything about plants from the molecular level to large scale production methods. My major required Organic and Biochemistry so that really helped on the extraction side of things.

My job involves both growing and extracting, it’s the best of both worlds. I get to nerd out with plants and act like a mad scientist on a daily basis. 10/10 would recommend.

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There is a point where science gets involved with thc strains that can only be achieved indoor
Be aware we are hitting 1.3 kg dry weight per square meter with thc strains

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That sounds really interesting and difficult. Props to you for making college count.

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Thanks man, I appreciate it! I’ve always loved plants (especially cannabis) and it just made so much sense to me to go study something I loved.

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Thank you so much for starting this thread!

I’m in a similar predicament, I’ve just started extracting at small scale commercial levels, I have my associates in science pre-nursing (mainly because I was considering implementation and caregiving, just fascinating) and after taking on this challenge of working at (what is essentially a start up company) I wasn’t sure which way to head, I was thinking laboratory sciences major, with organic chemistry minor.

Thanks to all, and appreciate the knowledge bombs dropped.

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