SOUTHFIELD, Mich. -- At most colleges, marijuana is very much an extracurricular matter. But at Med Grow Cannabis College, marijuana is the curriculum: the history, the horticulture and the legal how-to's of Michigan's new medical marijuana program.
"This state needs jobs, and we think medical marijuana can stimulate the state economy with hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars," said Nick Tennant, the 24-year-old founder of the college, which is actually a burgeoning business (no baccalaureates here) operating from a few bare-bones rooms in a Detroit suburb.
The six-week, $485 primer on medical marijuana is a cross between an agricultural extension class covering the growing cycle, nutrients and light requirements ("It's harvest time when half the trichomes have turned amber and half are white") and a gathering of serious potheads, sharing stories of their best highs ("Smoke that and you are ... medicated!").
The only required reading: "Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible" by Jorge Cervantes.
Even though the business of growing medical marijuana is legal under Michigan's new law, there is enough nervousness about the enterprise that most students at a recent class did not want their names or photographs used. An instructor also asked not to be identified.
"My wife works for the government," one student said, "and I told my mother-in-law I was going to a small-business class."
Under the Michigan law, patients whose doctors certify their medical need for marijuana can grow up to 12 cannabis plants themselves or name a "caregiver" who will grow the plants and sell the product. Anyone over 21 with no felony drug convictions can be a caregiver for up to five patients. So far, the Department of Community Health has registered about 5,800 patients and 2,400 caregivers.
For Tennant, who is certified as both a caregiver and a patient - he said he has stomach problems and anxiety - Med Grow replaces the auto detailing business he started straight out of high school, only to see it founder when the economy contracted. Med Grow began offering its course in September, with new classes starting every month.
On a recent Tuesday, two teachers led a four-hour class, starting with Todd Alton, a botanist who provided no tasting samples as he talked the students through a list of cannabis recipes, including crockpot cannabutter, chocolate canna-ganache and greenies (the cannabis alternative to brownies).
The students are a diverse group: white and black, some in their 20s, some much older, some employed, some not.
Some keep their class attendance, and their growing plans, close to the chest.
"I've just told a couple of people I can trust," said Jeffery Butler, 27. "It's a business opportunity, but some people are still going to look at you funny. But I'm going to do it anyway."
