CMC Extends Support to Northwest Colorado's Most Rapidly Growing Industry: Medical Marijuana

Written by Barry Kush Monday, 03 September 2012

With Colorado Mountain College (CMC) and its new academic center poised to welcome students for the fall semester, campus officials announced another innovative component of the 60,000 square-foot building.To better provide a more-relevant education to CMC students, the "college" introduced a new, massive marijuana Grow Room as part of its new facilities.

"The new academic center will also contain a state-of-the-art Grow Room," announced Campus President Pieder Piper. "To comply with our LEED silver certification, the grow room will, of course, be Energy Star rated."

With the fall 2011 introduction of a four-year degree in Sustainability Studies, the college began offering courses in sustainable agriculture, ecology and natural-resource management, and sustainable business.

"Students repeatedly raised concerns about the damage caused by unauthorized marijuana farming in our national forests," said sustainability professor Sandy Moss. "Obviously we are not in a position to influence the practices of the Mexican drug cartels. However, one of our mission goals is to make the education we provide relevant to our students. To that end, this year we are expanding our curriculum to provide students with the background to educate people on the proper, sustainable way to grow marijuana."

Recognizing the potential for cross-pollination with the four-year Business Administration degree, CMC contracted with local dispensary Hydro for Health. The dispensary will share expertise in proper grow-room design and team-teach a course in local entrepreneurship with CMC faculty.

"We are excited to acknowledge our partnership with Colorado Mountain College in a more public, legitimate way," noted Joe Notsinhaelen, partner at Hydro for Health.