You Can Get A Master’s In Medical Cannabis In Maryland
Maryland now offers the country’s first master’s degree in the study of the science and therapeutics of cannabis. Pictured, an employee places a bud into a bottle for a customer at a weed dispensary in Denver, Colo.
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Summer Kriegshauser is one of 150 students in the inaugural class of the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s Master of Science in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics, the first graduate program of its type in the country.
This will be Kriegshauser’s second master’s degree and she hopes it will offer her a chance to change careers.
“I didn’t want to quit my really great job and work at a dispensary making $12 to $14 an hour,” says Kriegshauser, who is 40. “I really wanted a scientific basis for learning the properties of cannabis — all the cannabinoids and how they interact with the body. I wanted to learn about dosing. I wanted to learn about all the ailments and how cannabis is used within a medical treatment plan, and I just wasn’t finding that anywhere,” she adds.
The program stands largely alone: Some universities offer one-off classes on marijuana and two have created undergraduate degrees in medicinal plant chemistry, but none have yet gone as far as Maryland.
Stretched over two years and conducted almost exclusively online, the program launched as an increasing number of jurisdictions across the country legalize pot — primarily for medical uses, but in some places recreational, as well.
As of mid-October, nearly three dozen states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands had legalized medical cannabis, creating an ever-expanding universe of opportunities for people looking to grow, process, recommend and sell the drug to patients. And given how quickly attitudes and laws on cannabis are shifting, those opportunities are expected to keep expanding.
But even as the industry has quickly grown, expertise has remained largely informal. And for people looking to change careers, like Kriegshauser, getting into the legal cannabis field can seem risky, with the likely job options hard to come by.
The University of Maryland credits the overwhelming response to its graduate program to that desire for more information and opportunity. More than 500 hopefuls applied for what was supposed to be a class of 50, prompting the university to increase the size of the inaugural class threefold. And the class is geographically diverse, coming from 32 states and D.C., plus Hong Kong and Australia.
The students take four required core courses — including one on the history of medical weed and culture, and two basic science classes. Students then choose between a number of electives.
Leah Sera, a pharmacist and the program’s director, says officials at the university see a parallel trend. More and more of their graduates were entering a professional world where cannabis is seen as an alternative medicine for any number of ailments, and one that more patients are curious about.
“There have been a number of studies, primarily with health professionals, indicating that there is an educational gap related to medical cannabis — that health professionals want more education because patients are coming to them with questions about cannabis and therapeutic uses,” Sera says.
Pharmacist Staci Gruber teaches at Harvard Medical School and is leading one of the country’s most ambitious research projects on medical marijuana at McLean Hospital in Boston.
She says Maryland’s program is proof that as the drug becomes ever more present among patients, more research on its effects will be needed.
“I know some say, ‘Oh, it’s just a moneymaker for the institution,’ but it’s because people are asking for it,” she says. “People are interested in learning more and knowing more, so [Maryland’s program] underscores the need to have more data.”
That’s the challenge for an academic program on cannabis; the drug remains largely illegal under federal law, which has hampered its study over the years and means very little concrete research exists for students to dig into. But as that changes, Sera says, the program will continue to evolve.
And she expects that students will see immediate opportunities in the rapidly expanding industry once they graduate.
There remains plenty of uncertainty, of course, and as the recreational use of weed is made legal in more places, established medical cannabis programs, and their associated jobs, may dwindle. But Summer Kriegshauser says making the leap into Maryland’s program made sense for her — and she bets it will pay off.
A Smart Home Neighborhood: Residents Find It Enjoyably Convenient Or A Bit Creepy
Lennar New Home Consultant Brittney Svach is selling “smart homes” at the Amazon Experience Center in Black Diamond, Washington, about an hour south of Seattle.
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When the Ferguson family decided they wanted to live in the Seattle suburb of Black Diamond they weren’t in the market for a smart home. But they wound up with one, a house packed with Internet-connected devices.
Fifteen-year-old Macey Ferguson loves it. “I just feel really fancy,” she says about having Amazon’s Alexa there to turn on the lights for her, or to remind her when to go to cheerleading practice. “I feel like she’s my little servant, or butler.” Her older brother uses it for math homework, her younger sister for calling grandma. Her three-year-old brother asks Alexa for cake recipes so he can stare longingly at the photos.
Kelli Ferguson, the mom in this household, is more ambivalent. On the one hand, it’s nice to ask Alexa to heat up the house before crawling out of bed in the winter. On the other, there’s all those cameras. “If I’m walking on our street, I walk on the other side of the street,” she said, meaning the side without the smart homes. “Just because I don’t feel like being on everyone’s cameras.”
Living in a smart home neighborhood, the Fergusons experience both convenience and surveillance. And that’s typical in Black Diamond, where Lennar Homes offers smart homes as part of a 4,800 unit development that includes other builders. This neighborhood isn’t a one off. There are smart home developments in suburbs outside of cities such as Miami and San Francisco. Lennar is making Amazon tech standard on each of the 45,000 homes it builds this year.
This partnership between builders and Amazon benefits both sides. Amazon wants to push for wider adoption of its Echo smart speaker. Lennar relies on Amazon to help distinguish it from other home builders in communities like Black Diamond.
But do users really need smart home technology?
Amazon really wants you to think so. In Black Diamond, the pitch starts at the Amazon Experience Center, a model home just around the corner from the Fergusons.
Lennar New Home consultant Brittney Svach throws out commands like a smart home samurai, using her voice to lock the door, start up the robot vacuum, dim the lights, close the blinds, and call up a feed on the smart television from one of the home’s many surveillance cameras. “Alexa, show me the backyard,” she commands. Up pops a video. “And now we can spy on whoever’s having a drink out on the patio,” she says with a smile.
Amazon has a lot of ground to cover if it wants to build a market of consumers hungry for smart homes. A Zillow survey says smart homes technology is down the list of desired home features, lagging far behind air conditioning and ample storage. It’s roughly as important as a hot tub for those shopping for a home.
But Dave Garland thinks the technology will take off once people try it. He’s with Second Century Ventures, an investment arm of the National Association of Realtors. “There’s a new narrative when it comes to what ‘home’ means,” he says. “It means a personalized environment where technology responds to your every need. “
Black Diamond resident Drew Holmes buys that line. Like the Fergusons, he wasn’t looking for a smart home, but the technology came with the one he happened to like. Now he enjoys all the smart home features. “I would not live without them,” he said.
His favorite is a Ring doorbell that logs visitors. “I have teenagers,” he said. “It’s nice to confirm when they come home. And I have proof of it.”
Therron Smith had a very different reaction to the smart home pitch. “The thought of having cameras in every room and that potential exposure… just kind of made us nervous about it,” he says.
Smith works in tech, and says that’s how he knows the risks. It’s not just cameras, even light switches capture information. “That data’s not just sitting there, just… empty,” he says. “Somebody’s gonna look at it and leverage it, to try to turn a profit, or try to create an ad, or try to create some revenue.”
When newcomers purchase a home in Black Diamond, they’re not just buying property – they’re staking out a position on how far they’ll allow tech companies to intrude into their lives. That’s something many us will need to navigate if this technology becomes standard in more neighborhoods.
You can learn more on how Amazon is changing us by subscribing to the KUOW podcast, “Primed.”
Editor’s note: Amazon is one of NPR’s recent financial supporters.
Saturday Sports: LA Clippers, 49ers, Bruins
The LA Clippers get fined, the San Francisco 49ers are the winningest team in the NFL, and the Boston Bruins are out for revenge. Scott Simon talks to Howard Bryant.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Know what gets me through the week? Time for sports.
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SIMON: The NBA debate, should coaches bench their superstars just so they can take a rest? And holy, Garoppolo, the 49ers are undefeated. And the Bruins are cruising. We’re joined by Howard Bryant of ESPN. Howard, thanks so much for being with us.
HOWARD BRYANT: Scott, the derisive way in which you said rest. Do you really mean that?
SIMON: Well, all right.
BRYANT: (Laughter).
SIMON: Let me pose the question for you, you know, in perhaps a better stated way. The NBA fined the LA Clippers $50,000. Coach Doc Rivers said Kawhi Leonard – he didn’t start him. The league said he was injured. Coach Doc said, you know, actually he was fine. He was OK. He was great, in fact. Now…
BRYANT: (Laughter).
SIMON: …Should superstars be benched particularly early in the season because the coach, maybe only meaning to be conscientious, wants to save them for important games further on into the season and the playoffs?
BRYANT: Yeah, I understand the perspective. The NBA season is a grind. It’s a very, very long season. You’re starting out in October. You get to the playoffs in late April. And then the playoffs last two months. So the regular – the postseason doesn’t even end until almost July. So I understand the impulse. I also understand when you’re a coach, your attitude is, look; you’re paying me to win important games. You’re paying me to win championships, especially when you’re the Los Angeles Clippers, where you get Kawhi Leonard from Toronto, you – who just won a championship a few months ago. And the end goal for the Clippers is to be hosting the trophy a few months from now.
I also understand it from a consumer standpoint, which is where if you’re going to pay 150 bucks a ticket to go see the best players play, then for that one game that you’re going to, you want to see Kawhi Leonard against Giannis Antetokounmpo, which is – which was the matchup. You had the Milwaukee Bucks team that is supposed to go to the NBA Finals against the Clippers team that is supposed to go to the NBA Finals. And so if you’re the paying customer, you show up at that the arena, and that matchups not going to happen, that’s a bitter pill. That’s the reason why you paid all that money.
SIMON: Yeah. I mean, the NBA sells itself as entertainment. And, you know, great entertainers show up when the curtain goes up.
BRYANT: Well, exactly. And the bottom line on that is if you’re Doc Rivers, if you’re the coach, you’re thinking to yourself, OK, what are you going to remember more? Are you going to remember me not playing Kawhi Leonard in November, or are you going to remember Kawhi Leonard not being healthy and ready to go when the big games start when the playoffs begin?
SIMON: NFL season is halfway over. The San Francisco 49ers, who were 4-12 last year, are now 8-0. They’ve got a big Monday night game against the Seahawks. Are they as good as 8-0?
BRYANT: Well, they’re good. They’re really good. And we’re going to find out how good they are because the Seahawks are 7-2. And that’s a rivalry game. And we know how big that is. You haven’t had that kind of excitement in San Francisco for a really long time, haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1995, haven’t been to the Super Bowl since Colin Kaepernick took them there back in 2011 against the Ravens. And so when you are looking at this team, you get – you’re excited. You’re excited. And I think that Garoppolo’s a great, great quarterback. They’re doing it with defense. Their defense is almost as good as the Patriots. So – it may be better. And you’ve got George Kittle. You’ve got a nice tight end there. And so they run the ball. They catch it. They do everything you’re supposed to do to win. And they turn the ball over, as well. So they get turnovers. So they’re doing all the things that championship teams have to do. But it’s halfway there. It’s going to be a big game Monday night.
SIMON: NHL, the Bruins, of course, lost Game 7 in the Stanley Cup, but they’re back with a vengeance. Can they keep it up?
BRYANT: Well, once again, long season. You go out and you lose the Stanley Cup at home, and you want to go on a revenge tour, but you’ve got to play a long way. The Bruins have lost two in a row now. And it’s – a lot of good teams out there. St. Louis is still a good team. I think that what they have to do is you’ve got to maintain that emotion, but at the same time realize it’s a marathon. But they’re really good to watch.
SIMON: Howard Bryant of ESPN, thanks so much for being with us my friend. Talk to you soon.
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