Cannabis is the curriculum at California school

SAN DIEGO — On the surface, it looks like an ordinary classroom, but this is a different kind of trade school.

The Legal Cannabis Institute in Mira Mesa prepares it’s students for jobs in San Diego’s thriving medical marijuana industry.

“This is one industry that continues to grow, no pun intended. There’s lot of growth and a lot of opportunity,” said teacher Kimberly Simms.

Simms has been teaching at the institute since it opened last December.

Today’s lesson? How to start a collective or delivery service.

Nine different classes are offered every Saturday and online.

For $99 a course, students can learn how to grow and cook with cannabis, study which strains of pot are best for certain ailments and learn the legalities of a business that the federal government says is against the law.

“We have lawyers that teach law classes, nurses that teach our dosing classes and professional gardeners that teach growing,” said school owner Nicole Scott.

Some of the institute’s most popular courses attract as many as 100 students at a time.

Owner and founder, Scott considers herself a business woman.

“I am a soccer mom from Del Mar, California. My neighbors know what I do, my mother knows what I do my sister thinks its hilarious… It’s a wonderful business, and I meet delightful people every single Saturday,” said Scott. 

But, some like San Diegan Scott Chipman, aren’t amused.

“This may be a fun hobby for some of those people who are using and plan on continue using 1:48, but this should not be used as an excuse for helping people set up an illegal business,” said Chipman.

He says the school sends the wrong message.

“The message is, if you give legalizers or people that are promoting legalizing marijuana an inch, they will take the proverbial mile, and that’s what they’ve been doing,” Chipman said.

Under California’s Prop 215, patients with a doctor’s recommendation can grow medical marijuana legally in California.

Still, the majority of students at the institute don’t want to share their names or have their photo taken.

But Rancho Bernardo resident Paul Connor says he’s simply trying to learn and has nothing to hide.

“I am 31, married have a 1-year-old daughter. I am literally the neighbor next door that no one would suspect uses medical marijuana,” Connor said.

Connor says he plans on continuing his “higher” education at the Cannabis Institute.

“I think it’s fantastic that these folks hire bar certified lawyers to give us the exact guidelines for what we need to do to stay safe. You can sleep at night knowing what you’re doing is legal,” said Connor.