Oakland School Turns out Pot Club Pros

Boosh · Feb 25, 2008

BY LISA LEFF
Associated Press Writer
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.
Click to expand...

whaaaa? I wanna go there man!

Vicious · Feb 25, 2008

That is awesome. I hope to go in this industry some day

Hashmouf · Feb 25, 2008

Hmmm Maybe I can be a professor after all.

SpaceYOURface:- · Feb 26, 2008

wow this is amazing.......i cant wait till i have enough money to move to california, or untill NY relizes how stupid these laws are

fm_skunk · Feb 26, 2008

Californians are lucky

jakeandbake · Feb 26, 2008

so how hard is it exactly to find a job at one of these places?
if someone had a job at a dispensery making a lot amount of money, but what promised to be legit, i would uproot and leave everything by next week

blazinchick37 · Feb 26, 2008

that is fucking amazing, im going to oakland in a few weeks im going to check it out!

jdubb · Feb 26, 2008

It's shit like this that makes me want to move either to the bay area ...
not oakland, so much ... homicides and such...

amsterdamage · Feb 26, 2008

You know what we need, a school like this to train people to be marijuana law reformers.
You'd learn all the laws of the prohibition, all the details of its history and all the proven facts that rebut the Government's reasons for having the prohibition.

Just my opinion, but there's a lot of names, dates and details to know and it'd be great to have it all collected in one place and presented by veteran reformers. Also it'd be great to have other people around to practice debating the issues with.

one day maybe...

jdubb · Feb 26, 2008

amsterdamage, that sounds like a great class that could be sponsored by NORML

amsterdamage · Feb 26, 2008

jdubb said:

amsterdamage, that sounds like a great class that could be sponsored by NORML
Click to expand...

yeah, I wonder if they've ever considered doing it?

jdubb · Feb 26, 2008

I'm sure they've considered lots of things...

coolrunnings · Feb 26, 2008

Bet its tough to get in there.

Even with a MMJ card, some 21-25 year old kid will have a tough time getting into that.

And i bet its 21+ classes. Hahaha still one HUGE step towards pot becoming a tolerated "drug". Makes my heart warm with joy.

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