Saturday, November 28, 2009

At This School, It’s Marijuana in Every Class

In most colleges, Marijuana is not studied in depth, but In Michigan, Med Grow Cannabis College's curriculum focuses mainly on Marijuana. This college is Michigan's new medical marijuana program. Nick Tennant, the founder of the college believes that “This state needs jobs, and we think medical marijuana can stimulate the state economy with hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars,”. 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!”).There is only one required reading for the college, “Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower’s Bible” by Jorge Cervantes. Even though Medical Marijuana is legal in Michigan state law, students are still paranoid. They did not want their names or photographs taken nor did some of the instructors. Michigan's program is different that California's. California's has been around for a while and has grown into big business. Michigan's program is more representative of what is happening in other states that have legalized marijuana. Because the program is in its initial stages, many gray areas in the law have not been tested. This has created uneasiness for some of the students.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/education/29marijuana.html?partner=rss&emc=rss


I feel that it is good that this college has been opened. I personally feel that medical marijuana should be legalized for some of its health benefits. I am not sure about the effectiveness of the program though because it is so new and I am sure there is going to be trouble with the law later on. I also do not think that the this college will effectively stimulate the Michigan economy by millions of dollars.

17 comments:

mcchan92 said...

While marijuana does have some health benefits, it seems like they are going a little overboard making a college devoted to medical marijuana. To me, it seems like they are using the medical marijuana as a cover up for other drug related purposes. But who knows, I'm probably wrong. I hope I'm wrong. After all, it has been known to do some good things for people's health. Like this story about how medical marijuana helped quell a 9 year old's autistic symptoms.

http://lifestyle.msn.com/your-life/bigger-picture/articledoublex.aspx?cp-documentid=21992648&gt1=32001

Jodi Miller said...

Here's a link to a website about medical marijuana, and how it's "helped" people with different types of illnesses.

http://www.rxmarijuana.com/shared.htm

While I understand how many people are paranoid about being tied to what could possibly become a huge drug case, I still think it's a good idea. It's helping to create more jobs, and who knows, maybe they will discover something worthwhile about getting high.

Andrew said...

There are way too many posts regarding the legalization of weed, so I feel obligated to comment on why it shouldn't be legalized.

Here goes and have fun.

Marijuana is often used as a stepping-stone drug, leading to heroin, cocaine, or other harder drugs. Studies show that marijuana use often progresses to the use of harder drugs. In other words, people experiment with what is often thought of as a "harmless" drug. Then, after using it for a while, a bigger "high" is sought; thus, users then turn to the harder stuff like heroin, LSD, cocaine, etc. This is particularly a problem since most people will not directly start abusing the harder drugs that are generally understood to be harmful. Marijuana use may simply embolden them to experiment.

Stoned driving and other dangers would be increased. Marijuana use isn't truly a "victimless crime" when you consider all the crimes that may be committed when the user is under the influence of the drug. Drunk driving is still a major problem in our society despite all the education and stiff penalties. Driving high would be even harder to detect. Unless the user has been smoking in the car, there isn't as distinctive of a smell as there is with alcohol. Also, there's always the possibility that the lapse in judgment caused by drug use will lead to harder crimes like rape or robbery.

The use of marijuana is also morally wrong, but who cares about morals right?

I could offer many more reasons, but I'm busy ...

-Andrew Oxendine 3°

prestonchan said...

I agree with Michael. I'm pretty sure that a lot if not most of the people that want marijuana legalized for "medical reasons" have many other purposes for it. But just like how marijuana has been shown to do some good things for people's health, I'm pretty sure that it's also been known to do some bad things for people's health. Legalizing marijuana is a grey area, but I think that people who say that it isn't bad for you in any way are full of it.

molly said...

I can see how marijuana can raise tax dollars for Michigan and that during this economy anything that can help should be done, but i'm not sure if encouraging the use of marijuana with college students is a good idea.

-Molly Cheng

ArianaR said...

I'm going to have to disagree with Andrew. For last year's debates, my partner and I were assigned the legalization of marijuana, and after a ton of research I believe that its legalization will be very beneficial to society.
-For one, the economy would greatly benefit from it. Although illegal, marijuana brings in millions of dollars. If legalized, marijuana could be taxed, and that would bring in millions of dollars. Not only that, the nation would not need to spend so much money on War on Drugs. Policeman would be able to focus on other issues at hand.
-The effects of marijuana are temporary. There have been no reported deaths of an overdose on marijuana.
-There are several countries throughout the world that have legalized marijuana and have had positive results
There are several more arguments, but these are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure you can easily google pros and cons of legalization.
Of course, the legalization of marijuana would come with problems, but I feel the advantages outnumber the disadvantages

Catherine Riviello said...

Although I think this is a good attempt at creating jobs and stimulating the economy, part of me thinks that this will just create more illegal use of marijuana. By teaching students how to grow marijuana and harvest it I feel that it will most likely cause an increase in the amount of people who use it for non-medicinal purposes and will not have the effect the state of Michigan is hoping for.
I too think it is a little extreme to create a whole college dedicated just to medical marijuana, but maybe that's just me. I think it'll be interesting to see how the Michigan economy actually benefits from this.

nick c said...

i think its a good thing for something like this to happen because who knows, it could be the next big thing and help a lot of people. i think we should just got with the "wait & see" approach. if it's good then continue the program, if not, then dump it.

Colin Yan said...

While i think it is great that there is growing support for medical marijuana for its potential benefits, making a college seems a bit much. It seems that making a school devoted to marijuana will run it to lots of trouble. And, as some people are saying, it could lead to a drug problem. HOpefully, this does not occur.

Overall, it seems like a good idea that could help people out.

Brian Stephens said...

While I personally do not approve of Marijuana usage, I think that people should do whatever they feel is right for them, as long as it doesn't harm anyone else.

Victor H. said...

This is pretty much like college students taking a brewery class...they just want to learn how to make something they probably shouldn't have...

(When I'm talking about something they shouldn't have, I'm implying that the students taking the course are underage.)

~Victor Hung

Victor H. said...

This is pretty much like college students taking a brewery class...they just want to learn how to make something they probably shouldn't have...

(When I'm talking about something they shouldn't have, I'm implying that the students taking the course are underage.)

~Victor Hung

Anonymous said...

i also think it is good that michigan is opening up this new study because marijuana does have medical benefits as well as economical ones.
economical benefits could be up to $18-12 billion dollars a year for california due to taxes, sales taxes, and reduced enforcement costs.
more facts are stated in : http://www.canorml.org/background/CA_legalization2.html
but i believe california should follow these new studies becasue not only are they medically beneficial but also are economicaly

Anonymous said...

and for andrews comment marijuana is not at all proven to be a gateway drug.
from http://www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana/factsmyths/
"Marijuana does not cause people to use hard drugs...Marijuana is the most popular illegal drug in the United States today. Therefore, people who have used less popular drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and LSD, are likely to have also used marijuana. Most marijuana users never use any other illegal drug."
also here is a study by the University of Pittsburgh
http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/study-say-marijuana-no-gateway-drug-12116.html

Alexandra Kor said...

So...they grow pot... in school? Um. I suppose since it is legalized in Michigan, it doesn't seem like that much of a big deal. To me it's a big deal because you go to school to learn, not to learn how to grow pot and what kind of nutrients are best for it. True, it's about medical marijuana but really now? I don't think it is appropriate to learn in school. At all.

Jessica Romero said...

I agree with Catherine, now we just really need to see it is actually going to create jobs if not they are just going to be proved wrong. I think that it does help out for medical reasons I think people are just going to grow their own for non medical purpose. So I think that we just have to wait and see how this goes.

Corinne Umali said...

This is very proactive of Michigan and although some people may be against it, I think that they should give it a chance before automatically concluding that it is an absurd thing for Michigan to be doing. I hope that this really helps to create more jobs in Michigan. Also, I must strongly agree with Ariana's point of possible taxation of marijuana, if legalized. That would definitely help to boost the economy.