Golden Gate University Course Offers View into Growing Cannabis Industry

Cannabis

Golden Gate University is offering one of the first university-level courses in California to give students a view into the burgeoning cannabis industry, exploring it through the lens of business owners, employees, regulators, lawyers, consumers, and members of affected communities.

The business course, "Cannabis: Commerce, Culture, and Compliance," will run from March 7 to April 25 and is open to both undergraduate GGU students and the general public.

The course will be taught by Tiffany Conklin-Lichtig, co-founder at California Cannabis Advisors LLC.

The course is perhaps the first in California to explore the business side of cannabis for college credit. The first class of the course on March 7 also serves as a seminar, "Cannabis 101: History, Uses, Culture," and is open to the public for $20. Meanwhile, GGU is hosting a cannabis-related seminar, "Dissolving Cannabis Banking Barriers with Cryptocurrency," on February 10.

"The cannabis industry is rapidly expanding in the Bay Area, but the legal, financial, and cultural aspects of the industry are unique and challenging," said Marc Singer, Dean of the School of Undergraduate Studies. "Our hope is that courses like this can give people a better grasp of what is going on, as well as moving toward quality and safety standards for the industry and the community."

The new course will encompass an overview of the plant's history and uses, and the rapid decriminalization, adoption and normalization of a culture of cannabis consumption in a variety of ways, for both medical and recreational purposes. Students will learn about the expansion of the industry and job growth in production, licensing, marketing, and distribution.

In addition to serving an expanding marketplace for recreational marijuana, companies are now aggressively exploring the viability of the plant's compounds such as CBD to remedy pain, inflammation, anxiety, seizures, and other physical symptoms—while also grappling with regulatory crosswinds.

Estimates of the cannabis industry's potential growth vary widely. Medical marijuana is currently legal in 33 states and the District of Columbia. To date, 12 states and D.C. have some form of legal recreational markets. One study predicted that total legal sales of cannabis in current legal states will see a compound annual growth rate of 14 percent over the next six years, reaching nearly $30 billion by 2025.

California legalized marijuana for medical use in 1996 and for broader recreational use in 2016, and it accounts for the largest market share in the U.S. Fueled by hundreds of millions of dollars in investments, the San Francisco Bay Area has become a hub for cannabis-related businesses, including NorCal Cannabis Company, Caliva, Eaze, Steep Hill Labs, and Kiva.

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