Surge in Enrollment as Gen X and Millennials Pivot Careers to Cannabis Industry
More Gen X, millennials switching careers to pursue cannabis.
Since recreational weed sales went live across Ohio at the beginning of August, The Cleveland School of Cannabis’s enrollment has been through the roof.
Due to the increase in interest, CSC offers daily information sessions for potential new students.
CSC added that though it has a wide age range of interest, recently, it's seeing mainly interest and enrollment from adults 30 to 50 years old.
Maurice Butts is one of those students.
He said he always had a passion for cannabis, and now that he can legally grow it, he wants to learn how to do it the right way.
Butt added he’s excited to start working in a field he truly cares about, that can help people.
“As a state, we are still a baby to this,” said Butts. “We are brand new and as this baby grows, it’s going to get bigger and offer more jobs and opportunities for people to get into the industry. I love cannabis. So, I’m doing what I love and I’m getting better at it.”
Kent State started offering the course in January and is calling it a success.
Since January, over 140 people have enrolled in the offered courses, and more than half of those enrolled have opted in for the agriculture track.
“We were pleasantly surprised that we created these courses to try to help facilitate the training needed to help in this industry that would be growing in Ohio,” said Eric Mansfield, Kent State University Spokesperson. “We had more than double the number of students we were expecting.”
Green Flower courses take months to complete and can be customized depending on how much or how little an individual wants to take on.
The School of Cannabis offers in-person courses as well as online courses.
Both programs have the goal of getting students cannabis jobs in Ohio instead of those students moving to states that have more established recreational markets like California or Colorado.
“Individuals are like hey, I can do this not only at home, but I could really look at the entire Midwest as an opportunity for me to do some things,” said Kevin Greene, Vice President of the Cleveland School of Cannabis. “I think for Ohio, we already know that patients and adult users were already leaving the state and going to Michigan. We know that for a fact that that was happening consistently. Now, all that energy is going to be spent and invested back home.”
