KPU’s cannabis career training program helps create a new well-educated industry.
While Richmond council remains hesitant about growing and selling recreational marijuana in the city, many students are interested in the business.
In fact, the cannabis education program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) is immensly popular.
“We need to create a new trained workforce for the new industry,” said Barinder Rasode, CEO of The National Institute for Cannabis Health and Education (NICHE).
“If Richmond is excluding itself from the industry, it won’t benefit from the jobs created by the industry and taxes gathered.”
KPU’s online cannabis career training, in partnership with NICHE, is the only one of its kind in Canada, according to Rasode.
The program was developed in 2015 to help manage the medical marijuana industry, but expanded with the widespread media coverage of the legalization of recreational marijuana, according to program director, David Purcell.
“We used to run it every nine weeks. Since last October, we have been running it every month, because demand is so high,” Purcell told the Richmond News.
“We have a huge waitlist. The maximum number of participants for each course is 40, and every course has been full for the last seven months,” he added.
The program provides three, eight-week courses on plant production and facility management, marketing and sales, and financing a cannabis enterprise in Canada, instructed by current industry professionals.
He said students are trained on growing cannabis and working in a licensed production facility; creating marketing strategies that comply with “very strict” rules and regulations; and launching a cannabis business in Canada.
“When the recreational legalization model comes out, the rules for growing cannabis are going to be very similar. The students taking these courses today will be able to transition,” said Purcell.
The program was updated after the proposed regulations for the recreational market came out late last year and will be further adjusted when Bill-C45 becomes law in July, according to Purcell.
Meanwhile, the program will launch two, full-year courses as early as this spring.
“One focuses on cannabis cultivation — teaching students how to grow within a legal framework. This includes harvesting, drying, transportations and packaging,” explained Purcell.
“Another one is a retail training course for the recreational market to teach the safe, responsible sale of adult-use cannabis.”
He added the new courses are meant to be the standard in training for the retail workforce in the Canadian cannabis industry.
Rasode said there is a huge demand for trained workers in the industry right now, and that will only increase.
“I think one of the big tasks is around employee and recruitment treatment; People need to be both trained and recruited into various roles,” said Rasode, adding that most workers in the industry are currently trained on the job.
“The demand and supply will be huge. In Colorado, U.S., 127,000 high-paying jobs were created following the legalization of recreational marijuana.”
Purcell agrees, noting that the lack of trained workers is often addressed through industry growth.
“The industry is coming. Legalization is coming. It’s going to be a very large industry and a very good economic boost for a lot of communities,” said Purcell.
He said statistics show 50,000 to 150,000 jobs will be created from cannabis legalization.
“It’s really about creating an industry that’s well educated and well trained so you can provide safe, consistent and good products.”
