OCC announces online cannabis-education program

ONONDAGA, N.Y. — Onondaga Community College (OCC) on Monday announced it is offering an online cannabis-education program.

OCC sees the program as one that is “giving students an affordable pathway into a growing industry” that is projected to create up to 60,000 jobs across New York state by 2027, per its announcement.

The college is offering the program in partnership with the Cleveland School of Cannabis in Independence, Ohio.

Instruction is customized to align with the rules and regulations of New York State, and classes are delivered entirely online and self-paced. The program doesn’t have traditional start and end dates, giving students the ability to complete the program on a schedule that works for them, OCC noted.

The first five students who register for the program before Feb. 3 will receive 30 percent off tuition costs, the school added.

Areas of study

This program offers an introduction to the cannabis industry while focusing on cultivation, dispensary training, and extraction, OCC said. Students can earn a workforce certificate in one or more of the following areas of study.

They include cannabis-cultivation science that focuses on horticulture, cannabis growth, pest remediation, and the science of the glandular trichome.

Another area — cannabis dispensary training — focuses on dispensary operations, CBD, the history of cannabis, advocacy, and terpenes and cultivars.

A third area of study, cannabis extractions, is about edibles, mechanical extractions, ethanol hydrocarbon extractions, CO2 extractions, and post processing.