Stockton University to offer degree in hemp, cannabis business management
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Stockton University is now the first school in New Jersey to offer a degree in hemp and cannabis business management. The curriculum starts in the fall.
"New Jersey’s on pace to do a billion dollars in cannabis this year," stated Stockton University cannabis professor Rob Meija.
With so much money being spent on marijuana purchased legally in the Garden State, a new industry is growing faster than its plants. Stockton University, in Atlantic County, has decided to be the first in the state to offer a major in marijuana.
Meija remarked, "We decided that we wanted to create a Bachelor of Science in Hemp and Cannabis Business Management."
"There’s always gonna be a stigma with cannabis for decades to come, but this helps to legitimize that, to show that one of the most prominent universities in New Jersey is really recognizing the value of it," stated Spencer Belz, Sunny Tien Dispensary CEO.
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Meija continued, "At Stockton, we’ve actually offered a minor in cannabis studies since fall of 2018. That program was tremendously successful. We started with 24 students and in three years, that enrollment grew by nearly 500 percent. And, to date, we’ve had roughly 70 graduates and many of them are employed in the New Jersey cannabis industry."
That suddenly now has 140 dispensaries with more on the way. Sunny Tien just one of 10 in Atlantic City alone, with two more opening soon. That’ll make the resort have more marijuana dispensaries than casinos. With future college grads likely seeing high-paying careers in cannabis and Stockton students wondering if their futures should involve the marijuana business.
"The market is starting to grow," Meija explained students’ thought process. "It’s something I’d like to be involved in and clearly there’s a lot of positions. I can be an accountant, in compliance, be a cultivator, work in a lab, create products. I can be an entrepreneur. Really kind of unlimited."
"Having a foundation of understanding the mechanics behind the business side of cannabis would absolutely make that a faster and more efficient path, no question," Belz said.
With a New Jersey university offering a major in the cannabis business, New Jersey may move even further ahead and advanced in an industry its neighbor states are still debating about legalizing. Now not just luring customers and their money, but students and their future careers.
Belz added, "Cannabis has a lot of potential, both medicinally and recreationally and this is a career path that is only gonna get better as time comes."