BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — With over 400 thousand jobs in the legal cannabis industry that grosses about $35B a year, Louisiana State University is partnering with a company to teach people how to turn a plant into profit.
By 2025, Louisiana anticipates more than 400 million dollars in legal cannabis sales.
Now, students have an opportunity to get ahead of the game in one of the fastest-growing industries.
“When you are earlier and more well-educated, you have the best chance of taking advantage of those opportunities,” said Max Simon, CEO of Green Flower.
LSU is partnering with a company in California to offer new online programs for those interested in growing, selling, or practicing using medicinal marijuana.
“This industry.. is the industry that powers the agriculture, growing of the plant, making the products into different delivery methods, and then ultimately selling those products to consumers,” said Simon.
Simon says there is a lot of misinformation surrounding the plant. He wants to erase the stigmas and increase credibility in the industry.
“The legal cannabis industry is very heavily regulated. And so there’s lots of rules and regulations that you have to follow and understand and know,” said Simon.
Simon says in Louisiana there are fewer options to buy cannabis because you must have a prescription. Which means there are fewer licensed businesses in the state.
“When the partnership with Green Flower came along, it sort of was like a no-brainer,” said Patrick Box, Asst. Director of CE Marketing for LSU Online Education.
Patrick Box is the assistant director of CE Marketing for LSU’s online education program….he says this partnership can help fill a void by pushing more people into the workforce…
“What it’s doing is skilling up a labor force to meet the job demand for the next five, ten years,” said Box.
Box says agriculture is a big part of the LSU system… and the partnership is about education – not advocacy.
“It’s really geared towards meeting people where they are and providing education just where they need it,” said Box.
The six-month online program costs just under $3,000 and offers four different certificates.
“We have the corresponding programs that really give you the important education that’s necessary to be hired and succeed in that sector,” said Simon.
The first round of classes starts on Monday. LSU officials say about 60 people are expected to sign up every eight weeks.