The Trade UP!

Trade school goes to pot

Filed under Trade Schools

Since everyone from AP to the Wall Street Journal to thesequitur.com is covering this, well, we have to, too. Yes, there is now a trade school where you can learn to grow Mary Jane… the green… herb…you know what we mean. And it’s not in Canada. Oaksterdam University (yes, we’re serious) is a new trade school teaching marijuana cultivation to potential pot farmers in (OK, what was your second guess?) California, where legalized medical marijuana has created a burgeoning industry.

The school is the brainchild of Richard Lee, a pot activist who founded the school last fall. “My basic idea is to try to professionalize the industry and have it taken seriously as a real industry, just like beer and distilling hard alcohol,” says Lee.

The course has a tuition of $200 (or, what you would pay on the street for an ounce of primo). Students learn how to cultivate and cook with cannabis, learn about different strains and get a survey of relevant laws and legalities. Students are also shown pruning techniques, soil treatments and given a primer on hydroponics. The course can be taken in a weekend. Very little cultivated marijuana is kept on premises, says Lee, so he gets little attention from the police.

“Oaksterdam” is really the tongue-in-cheek- name given to the section of Oakland where marijuana cafes and clubs have had some presence for a few years now, although their numbers dwindled once the city started levying taxes and issuing permits.

We have not added a directory of marijuana schools to our future site plans but we do have more about California Trade Schools.