While many recreational markets are going through their share of growing pains, Missouri has steadily seen about $120 million in sales every month and the state has added 8,000 cannabis-related jobs since voters approved recreational cannabis in November 2022. As the state nears the $1 billion mark for its first year of sales, some 17,615 Missourians now work in the market and multiple colleges are now offering cannabis-related degrees to students.
Truman State University is offering a cannabis and natural medicinals major for students looking to enter the growing industry. The degree’s description from the university’s website says students will get to harness their curiosity about the naturally occurring compounds in cannabis and how it can be applied therapeutically in traditional and holistic practices. Coursework for the major spans the “various aspects of the field, this interdisciplinary degree integrates the science behind cannabis and medicinal plants, the business and regulatory aspects of medicinal plants, and the social and cultural aspects of medicinal plant use,” according to the university’s website.
Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau added horticulture and cannabis as an option within the agribusiness bachelor program in June 2022.
St. Louis Community College at Meramec, which is home to the largest agricultural program in the state, offers three cannabis courses for students: introduction to cannabis, cannabis and hemp cultivation, and laboratory methods for cannabis extraction.
The courses at St. Louis Community College and Truman State University allow students to work directly with hemp plants at the colleges’ greenhouses.
These college degrees and courses are in addition to the online cannabis certificate programs offered by St. Louis University and Northwest Missouri University which launched in 2020.