CLEVELAND — Ohio's marijuana industry has been raking in more sales every year since medical use was legalized. The numbers could skyrocket even further, considering there are multiple pushes to make marijuana legal for recreational use in our state.
News 5 Anchor Courtney Gousman went behind the scenes at the Cleveland School of Cannabis, where they're educating students and putting them in a position to grow in this budding industry. Professor of Cultivation Randy Jenkins showed us his lab.
"The more you can manipulate it and target beneficial flower sites, the overall bigger your yield will be. The bigger your yield will be, the happier everybody will be," he explained about the cultivation process. He operates grow lab filled with marijuana plants that are cultivated by students, each with their own plant.
A quick stroll around the school shows it's different from your typical learning environment. The focus here is hands-on. There's a kitchen for cannabis cooking classes and even a mock dispensary. Cleveland School of Cannabis Vice President Kevin Greene showed us around the campus in Independence.
"Our goal is to supply the workforce to the market," he said. Green said more than 900 students have graduated from the school since its inception in 2017. Full-time students walk away with a certificate after about six to eight months of courses.
Daniel Bridges will graduate later this month.
"Always loved cannabis and always was interested," he told us. "Was waiting on a legal market to arrive, or I was going to have to move out to one," Bridges said.
Since enrolling last fall, he's been able to secure a position at a local dispensary.
"I wanted to do what I'm doing now, which is budtending, or personal care specialist," He said. "I tried to get into the industry before I came here, and I wasn't able to. They helped me get a resume that makes it look like I know what I'm talking about, which I actually do."
Bridges said this was the start of his journey toward one day opening his own dispensary.
The school offers a variety of cannabis-related tracks, including cultivation, processing, dispensary operations, and medical applications. Students can also choose an executive track, which combines everything and teaches about cannabis law and business.
"This is a research and learning environment, so we get to make mistakes here," Greene said. "So when they get their jobs, they're not making mistakes."
CSC President Tyrone Russell said there's no such thing as an average student here. They're enrolling from all walks of life.
"Some folks want to come here and clean it up and legitimize themselves so they can enter in the other side of the market so they don't have to look over their shoulders to make a living for their family," Russell told us. The school's come a long way since we first visited the then-one-room operation after it opened in 2017. It's even working to obtain accreditation, which would be historic.
"We will be the first, and we would be the only cannabis education company in the United States to hold this standard," said Greene.
A certificate from CSC runs anywhere from $7,500 to $14,000. The school said they work toward a 70% job placement rate, which is aided by relationships they've built in the cannabis industry both here in Ohio and beyond.
You can learn more about the Cleveland School of Cannabis here.
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