Gov. Matt Meyer toured a cannabis cultivation facility ahead of legal recreation-use marijuana sales launching this week.
Meyer used the visit to First State Compassion’s cannabis cultivation facility in Milford to tout an educational piece to legalization. For the last six months First State Compassion has partnered with Delaware Tech to provide hands-on learning for students looking to get into the budding cannabis industry.
Lisa Peel is the Vice President of Academic Affairs at Delaware Tech.
“Just like with any other program, when there’s a need, we respond to it in the workforce by partnering with the employer, designing curriculum that fits the need, and then producing graduates.” she said.
Delaware Tech student Katrina Brison is among those who took the school's Cannabis Industry course.
“We’ve learned everything from seed to sale, cultivation, extraction, the medical uses, so many different things” she told DPM.
Brison says the course prepared her for work in the industry; noting she and her classmates would gladly take additional courses if they become available.
The class is the first in Delaware Tech history, and was built from scratch by Delaware Tech Educational Specialist Emily Wilkins.
“It’s been challenging, one of the most challenging things in my career." she said. "But luckily I have a great team to bounce ideas off of. So, it’s been a whirlwind, but it’s been a lot of fun at the same time; incorporating Delaware regulations with current best practices in the industry.”
Those regulations are among some of the strictest in the country according to officials, with Meyer calling Delaware’s market the “French wine of weed.”
The cannabis market in Delaware has been over two years in the making, with over 1,200 applicants entering the First States cannabis license lottery.
12 medical marijuana dispensaries converting to recreational-use sales will be the first to open Friday
