Maryland has offered Master’s Degree in Medical cannabis, which is the initial graduate program of this kind in the nation. It is a course of two years duration and is exclusively conducted online.
Medical cannabis has been legalized in nearly 36 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands and District of Columbia. This has created vast opportunities for those who are preparing to grow the drugs, process it, recommend it and sell it to patients. Though there has been a quick growth in the industry, it may be risky for people trying to change their careers into the field of legal cannabis. The strength of the class was supposed to be 50 initially but due to more number of applications received; it was increased by three times. There is great geographical diversity in the class with people from 32 different states and DC along with Australia and Hong Kong.
The degree contains four core courses. One is based on the medical weed history and culture. Two are classes on basic sciences. Then there are a variety of electives from which the students can choose from. The program director and a pharmacist, Leah Sera, said that various studies involving health professionals have indicated that there was an educational gap related to this medical cannabis and this must be met. Only then can the health professionals clear the doubts of their patients who come up with different questions related to cannabis and its therapeutic uses.
Staci Gruber who is an associate professor in psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School said that this program is a proof that the drug is becoming more prevalent among the patients and hence it demands for more research to be done on its effects. The drug was illegal under the federal law and this has hampered the study over the previous years. As a result of this there is very little research for the students to refer.