Tulsa Community College offering medical marijuana courses
TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — A manager at Whole Leaf Dispensary says the medical marijuana industry has grown so much in Oklahoma that these courses will help the industry run even smoother than it has been.
Medical marijuana became legal in Oklahoma nearly four years ago.
Since then, the industry has exploded.
“It's hard to put into words. It's grown enormously. It continues to get busier and busier,” says Jerrod Ganem, dispensary and purchasing manager at Whole Leaf in South Tulsa.
A 2021 jobs report by the cannabis investor group Leafly, does put it into words—ranking Oklahoma ninth in the country for the number of jobs in the cannabis industry.
That report also shows the industry employs more than 16,000 people in the state.
That’s why Tulsa Community College started making plans for the future, which is now paying off.
“We felt like we needed to do our part and give individuals the proper level of training to A, get into the industry, and B, be successful in those jobs,” explains Pete Seldan, vice president for workforce development at Tulsa Community College.
TCC has partnered with Green Flower, out of California, to offer online training in three medical marijuana industry categories: dispensary associate, cultivation technician, and manufacturing agent.
“There was a lot of things that already existed when it comes to schooling and education but now these classes are really going to dial it in, to a specific need and that’s where we're going to see a lot of the training that's really good for us," ” Ganem explains.
That training will help people get educated and earn competitive pay.
“I would say $15 an hour would be solid pay for a budtender. Also, budtenders get tips,” Ganem adds.
And officials say the TCC courses can give students an edge on acquiring a good-paying job in this growing medical marijuana industry.
The courses started yesterday and each one cost $750.
