Oakland school turns out pot club pros. By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 13 minutes ago.
OAKLAND, Calif. - You know you're in a
different kind of college when a teaching
assistant sets five marijuana plants down in
the middle of a lab and no one blinks a bloodshot eye.
Welcome to Oaksterdam University, a new trade
school where higher education takes on a whole
new meaning.
The school prepares people for jobs in
California's thriving medical marijuana
industry. For $200 and the cost of two
required textbooks, students learn how to
cultivate and cook with cannabis, study which
strains of pot are best for certain ailments,
and are instructed in the legalities of a
business that is against the law in the eyes
of the federal government.
"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," said Richard Lee, 45, an
activist and pot-dispensary owner who founded
the school in a downtown storefront last fall.
So far, 60 students have completed the two-day
weekend course, which is sold out through May.
At the end of the class, students are given a
take-home test, with the highest scorer — make
that "top scorer" — earning the title of class valedictorian.
Before getting to Horticulture 101, the
hands-on highlight of Oaksterdam U, the 20
budding botanists, entrepreneurs and political
activists at a recent weekend session sat
politely through two law lectures and a
visiting professor's history talk.
In the lab, Lee measured plant food into a
plastic garbage can and explained how, with
common sense, upgraded electrical outlets, a
fan and an air filter, students can grow pot
at home for fun, health, public service — or
profit.
Lee explained to his students how to prune and
harvest plants, handing the clipping shears
to a woman who wasn't sure how close to the
stalk to cut without damaging it. He offered
his thoughts on which commercial nutrient
preparations are best, as well as the advantages of hydroponics, or soil-free
gardening.
During a discussion of neighbor relations, he
warned against setting boobytraps to keep
curious kids out of outdoor gardens.
Students gave various reasons for enrolling.
Some said they were simply curious. Others
said they wanted tips for growing their own
weed, although judging from the questions
a few were ready for the graduate seminar Lee
recently added to the curriculum.
Jeff Sanders, 52, said he has been buying
medical marijuana since 2003, but wants to
open a dispensary in the San Joaquin Valley
because he doesn't like having to drive up to
San Francisco and paying the markup.
"I see it as a good thing. You are giving back
to the community," Sanders said.
Patrick O'Shaughnessy, 37, said he started
smoking pot regularly for the first time about
a year ago to treat his chronic migraines,
depression and anxiety. After attending
class, he said felt more confident about
growing his own, which he wants to do because
the dispensary he frequents often sells out
of his favorite strain.
Oaksterdam U draws its name from the jokey
nickname for a section of Oakland where some
of California's earliest medical marijuana
dispensaries took root. The nickname in turn
was inspired by the city of Amsterdam, in
Holland, where pot use is tolerated.
At one point, the Oaksterdam neighborhood had
at least 15 clubs and coffee shops selling
pot, a number that dwindled to four when the
city started issuing permits and collecting
taxes from them a few years ago.
California was the first of a dozen states
that have legalized marijuana use for patients
with a doctor's recommendation. Despite
periodic raids by federal drug agents and the
threat of prosecution, clubs and cooperatives
where customers can buy the drug of their
choice have proliferated; California has 300
to 400, according to advocacy groups.
Entry-level workers are paid a little more
than minimum wage, while "bud tenders," can
make over $50,000 a year, and owners and top
managers more than $100,000, Lee said. But
there's also a certain amount of risk — and
not just financial, but legal.
Michael Chapman, an assistant agent in charge
with the Drug Enforcement Agency's San
Francisco office, said authorities are aware
of Oaksterdam U and don't see any reason to
shut it down. Talking about marijuana is not
illegal, and while a small amount of pot is
kept on the premises, the DEA tries "to
concentrate our case work on the most
significant violators," he said.
Still, Chapman said he doesn't like Lee's
effort to wrap cannabis education in a cap and
gown.
"I think they are sending the wrong message
out to the community and it's something that
could only facilitate criminal behavior," he
said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080225/ap_on_re_us/school_of_pot
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