CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OFFERS EDUCATION IN MARIJUANA
October 23, 2009
By Suzanne Zionts For Fox Business News.com

All this week FOX Business is investigating the medicinal pot business and national debate on legalization in a special report called High Noon.

A new university in Oakland, Calif., focuses on a different kind of “High-er Learning.”

Oaksterdam University is a cannabis trade school, founded in 2007, that offers students various courses in marijuana studies and “Canna-Business.” Oaksterdam’s Chancellor, Dale Clare, encourages enrolled students to study the marijuana laws of their hometown. She supports full legalization of marijuana in the U.S. to anyone over the age of 21.

Q: How do you believe your university is changing the way people perceive the marijuana movement?
Dale: Our primary focus is educating individuals on how to be safe and responsible in their state laws, pay taxes and become part of the solution for cannabis regulation. We teach folks how to interact with their local government, how to be good neighbors, the difference between state and federal law, and how those laws might be applied in their life. We don’t offer black and white answers. We give adults an option, depending on how their lives are moving forward.

Q: Why do you have multiple campuses?
Dale: Someone in northern California is going to have a completely different set of rules to open a business than in San Diego. We have three different campuses because they reflect the different politics in the area. We are encouraging and empowering responsible citizens on how to interact on behalf of the cannabis industry, and we are showing them how to pay in and how to be a part of the solution.

Q: How did this get started?
Dale: This started as a one-time thing. “Let’s hold this class,” [we said], and … the phone calls [started] coming in and … kept coming. Our original campus opened in Oakland in November 2007. We opened in Los Angeles in February 2008.

Q: What types of classes do you offer?
Dale: We are not just about how to go into business. The first half of our semester course is law, politics and history, because it is important. We have a joke: “Don’t break a law while you are breaking the law.” We strongly encourage our students to never break another law, and operate responsibility under California Law. We also have a core class in civics on what your rights are and how to deal with law enforcement. [We also offer classes on] the science of cannabis and how [it] might impact you medically. Some are not willing to take the risk … and drop $10,000 on a business license … when they find out what those risks are. The second day is about methods of ingestion. We offer vaporizing and cooking [classes]. The smoking part is more dangerous than the cannabis. We have a brief class on how to work in the dispensary industry.

Q: What is a typical course load?
Dale: We have three packages. The 101 is the basic class -- politics, history, law, science, cooking with cannabis and methods of ingestion. The 102 course package is the advanced package. That is geared towards what we call “Canna-Business.” It includes advanced civics for students to know their rights, because you are more likely to have interactions with law enforcement if you are actually in the business.

Q: What type of reform are you working on?
Dale: In 2010, we will have on the ballot [an option to] tax and regulate cannabis. It will legalize one ounce of marijuana for any adult over 21, and also allow cities and counties to decide if and how they would like to tax and regulate sales and commercial cultivation of cannabis. [Then] we can shift these profit margins back into the communities.

Q: Why do you believe in full legalization?
Dale: Many atrocities have been caused [as a result of] the prohibition of cannabis. We figured this out in the '30s. What do you think is going on with drug cartels right now? It is foolish to repeat the same behavior and expect different results.