Cannabis University not higher education, according to state

As noted in our Toke of the Town newsletter, Cannabis University's Michelle LaMay received a Department of Higher Education letter saying her school might qualify for vocational school regulations. But LaMay insisted her classes don't require any regulation by the state, noting her instruction is for everyone rather than qualifying as vocational education meant to get people jobs with dispensaries. And now, it seems the state agrees.

Yesterday LaMay received a letter from Jim Parker, director of the Department of Private Occupational Schools, exempting her from state regulations. LaMay said she was pleased with the ruling. "I'm just staying cool and legal," she says.

Cannabis University is one of several programs that have popped up over the last few years in Colorado, offering classes in topics ranging from starting your first pot plants to a primer on this state's cannabis law. LaMay said that the certificate of completion she hands out to students when they finish up the $250 classes is a "historical archive" and not any sort of degree.

Other cannabis schools, including Greenway University in Denver, did get state approval for their courses. In addition to grow classes, Greenway University offers classes on bookkeeping, budtending, business fundamentals and how to open a clinic. LaMay points out that those business courses are what set the two schools apart. For her, the only reason for getting a license would be as an advertising gimmick.

"I could use this accreditation as a marketing tool, but I don't," she says. "My object is to teach people how to grow their own marijuana. That's it."

More from our Marijuana archive: "Medical marijuana: State fees for MMJ business licensing too high, says attorney Warren Edson."