Northern Michigan University Was 1st In The U.S. To Offer A Four-Year Cannabis Degree

MICHIGAN – Would you dedicate four years to studying Cannabis? People are able to do just that. Northern Michigan University, located in Marquette in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, is recognized as the first-ever university in the U.S. to offer a Bachelor of Science degree built around the field and study of marijuana. As a student, a person is able to take classes in science, marketing, advertising, and finance. Stoners should not attempt to apply!

This plan is known as “Medicinal Plant Chemistry” and has drawn nationwide curiosity since it first launched in the fall of 2017. Although there are some accredited universities and colleges which offer both credit and noncredit courses in Cannabis, Northern Michigan University was the first ever to offer a full degree in the field of study. The plan’s workings have distinction and mainly consist of organic chemistry, biochemistry, biology, botany, soils, biostatistics, genetics, horticulture and much more. Core science courses run along one of two paths: a bio-analytical track that digs deeper into chemistry and plant biology, or an entrepreneurial track stacked with accounting, finance and marketing for those who want to launch their own operation.

Students who enroll in the plan will understand and have knowledge of how to extract and measure compounds in plant life which is able to be used for medicinal reasons. Then, they will be in a position to transfer the knowledge and understanding from increasing other medicinal plant life into marijuana.

“The historical stigma linked with cannabis is promptly vanishing,” the University website states, “and while there is a surge in enterprises associated to the marijuana economy, there is a big gap in educational possibilities readily available to prepare persons for this field.”

In 2016, an Associate Chemistry Professor named Brandon Canfield attended the once a year American Chemical Society meeting and this had given him some thought. “I heard all about the want for analytical chemists (in the cannabis sector) and all sorts of intriguing talks. That was the initial spark,” he said.

“We’ve had an overwhelming response from increasing operations, dispensaries and other enterprises who want to take on our students as interns,” Canfield stated, adding that “a stereotypical stoner should not apply.” He went on and mentioned that “obviously, the plan is new and diverse and it could possibly speak to a particular crowd. But for a student to succeed, they’re going to have to be pretty devoted and motivated. This is not an uncomplicated plan. It’s a seriously intense, biology and chemistry plan.”

What began as a class of roughly a dozen students grew quickly. NMU graduated its first class of eleven Medicinal Plant Chemistry students, and Chemistry Department head Mark Paulsen credited the timing of the newly constructed Shimadzu Medicinal Plant lab, which opened so that those seniors could train on cutting-edge analytical instrumentation before heading into the workforce. Enrollment more than doubled within a couple of years, turning the major into one of the larger programs on campus. As Paulsen has stressed, the degree is “not just marijuana” — it’s designed for graduates heading into medicinal plant production, herbal supplements, food and fermentation science, environmental analysis, laboratory work, or graduate school.

Marquette’s experiment proved to be the start of something bigger. Northern Michigan University has since expanded into a wider “ecosystem” of cannabis-related degrees, certificates and non-credit programs. The Medicinal Plant Chemistry major is still listed in the current NMU catalog, built around mixed cohorts and a year-long capstone, and the school continues to position its graduates for an industry that has kept growing as more states move toward legalization. For students from across the country drawn to the science behind the plant, the Upper Peninsula campus remains a pioneering destination.

For more of The AEGIS Alliance’s reporting on the plant the federal government patented while it was still Schedule I, see the U.S. cannabinoid patent, our look at CBD and opioid craving, and Health News.