Greenway University was formed to provide training and education for the medical marijuana/ cannabis industry and as such it holds workshops to help potential medical marijuana dispensaries understand legal requirements. Founder and Chief Executive, Gus Escamilla, began teaching students in Colorado late last year, after expanding operations from California.
To call the school a university might scream ‘delusions of grandeur’ however there’s no escaping the fact that the medical marijuana industry is growing faster than ever. And with industry growth comes opportunity and potential. Potential for good and potential for bad.
In a recent press release, Escamilla described Greenway’s “FDA-approved kitchen for growing and cultivating strains” as well as programs offering “an MBA degree and an advanced PhD degree for growing marijuana.”
At entry level, Escamilla charges around $200 for his five-class certification course, following which students will be tested on the various strains of medical weed as well as the legalities of provision and use.
With his eye firmly fixed on the grand prize, Escamilla also plans to offer a Master Grower certification course covering growing techniques and, once again, those various strains.
One has to question the academic rigor of a ‘university’ where the principal describes the condition known colloquially as ‘couch lock’ thus: “you receive a potentially higher dosage or maybe your body isn’t as ready to receive that. You just sit.”
The rigor of the Greenway courses doesn’t seem to have caught the interest of the academic illuminati either, as the University is not fully accredited. In response to questioning on this, Escamilla says, “It’s an MBA specific to the medical marijuana industry, a marijuana business administration course.” Well, that’s okay then.
Escamilla is, however, spot on when he says:
“The industry is creating so many jobs on so many levels and as more jobs are created, people who have that advanced level of education are going to be able to garner better jobs that are becoming available.”
Whether you choose Greenway or some other facility for your studies isn’t really the question here. The fact is that there is no accredited educational program for what is, when all is said and done, a profession allied to medicine. If the medical marijuana industry is to garner the respect it craves and cease to be regarded as nothing more than a ‘stoners charter’ this educational omission must be addressed. And sooner rather than later.
If you have views on this issue, why not share them with us in our medical marijuana forum?
