McGill wants to offer a university degree in cannabis

Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin
Dr. Anja Geitmann, dean of the Faculty of agriculture and environment from McGill University, in one of the greenhouses of the faculty who will soon be able to accommodate cannabis plants dedicated to research and the training of its students.

Christopher Nardi

Wednesday, 7 march, 2018 01:00

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Wednesday, 7 march, 2018 01:00

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OTTAWA | Learn how to irrigate the plan of the cannabis, or even what type of light it is necessary to provide it. The prestigious McGill University wants to form the first wave of masters growers of cannabis quebec by launching a specialized certificate program.

“The industry of legal cannabis will need skilled workers to work in the centres of production, and at this time, there is very little training for them […] It wants to form the next wave of master growers, the people who will be in charge of the greenhouses,” explains Dr. Anja Geitmann, dean of the Faculty of science of agriculture and the environment.

Seeing the craze among entrepreneurs for cannabis at the dawn of the legalization of the drug this summer, his department has organized a series of workshops on best practices in production and quality control to the industry, offered in may next.

Professional certificate

But this is only a small first step, ” she said. For the winter session of 2019, it expects to welcome the first students of a new professional certificate specialized in the cultivation of cannabis.

The program, still in the planning stage, will last from one session to a year and will be open to those who have already done studies in horticulture or plant biology.

“It is the people who already have qualifications in this field. You don’t necessarily want to train the one who will water the plants, but rather the one who is going to manage the greenhouses, the use of pesticides and plantations, for example “, explains Anja Geitmann.

More research

Other colleges already offer programs for the future workers in the field, but they form of labor less specialized, ” she adds.

In the long term, the University hopes to even graft a specialization in cultivation of cannabis for his bachelor’s degree in plant science, animal science, says the dean. However, it will take a few years, the time to have the approvals of the management of the institution and of the provincial government.

At the same time, the University has been active to put in place a significant network of research, pan-canadian, to demystify this plant, the study of which has always been difficult because of its illegality.

This initiative, organised with the specialist in pain management at the MUHC, Dr. Mark Ware, would allow researchers in many areas to discover much more about the functioning – and the functions – of the cannabis.

Agriculture and chemistry

“Initially, the project focused a lot on the human side and medical of the health. But more and more we see that there is a need and an interest in interdisciplinary, involving many fields, such as agriculture and chemistry. For example, little is known about the genome of the plant or how to grow the plant to obtain certain products, ” Anja Geitmann.

His department account, in particular, associate with a firm of cannabis to grow on the campus for research and training.

Some of the subjects that could be taught in the certificate

• The biology of cannabis
• The history of the plant
• The types of cultivation (in a greenhouse, outside, etc)
• The diseases and infections that affect the plant
• The science of pesticides and cannabis
• The methods of harvesting and processing
• The extraction and purification of the products extracted of cannabis