By Corinne Murdock |

The University of Arizona (UArizona) has a new program teaching students how to lawfully run a marijuana business. 

The program, Cannabis Compliance & Risk Management, awards a certificate in cannabis compliance upon completion. The course also awards one year of Association of Certified Commercial Cannabis Experts (ACCCE) membership, which comes with additional resources and training materials. 

The program consists of three courses lasting eight weeks each, all of which are offered exclusively online: Cannabis 101, Cannabis Compliance and Risk Management I, and Cannabis Compliance and Risk Management II. 

The first course, Cannabis 101, reviews the historical, cultural, and industrial backgrounds of cannabis. Topics include: history of cannabis, phytocannabinoids and the endocannabinoid system, agriculture and cultivation, enterprise, law and policy, cannabis medicine and healthcare, and careers in the cannabis industry.

In a sample video of the course, Professor David Bearman dispelled a common misconception that CBD doesn’t have psychoactive effects, noting that it suppresses anxiety and depression without the euphoric side effects.

Bearman reviewed the history of medicinal cannabis; he stated that the first study on medicinal cannabis was issued in the 1940s, but it wasn’t until decades later that greater implementation of the drug was studied. Bearman also reviewed the difference between marinol, the synthetic form of the drug, and cannabis, the natural form of the drug.

The second and third courses, Cannabis Compliance and Risk Management I and II, focus on risk assessment, including illicit markets, money laundering, and operational aspects; control activities and environment; communication; assurance; the supply chain; and board reporting.

The program costs just under $3,000. UArizona offers a $250 discount via a promotional code for those who register by April 9. 

According to the Arizona Department of Revenue (ADOR), the state’s cannabis market has experienced nearly $3 billion in sales since the state began allowing sales in January 2021. 

The state legalized recreational marijuana in the 2020 election through Proposition 207. 

On the flip side of the revenue boost is the rise in marijuana poisonings in children. The number of children poisoned by cannabis ingestion more than quadrupled over the past two years. These poisonings have increased dramatically despite guardrails within Prop 207 that were supposed to prevent pediatric poisonings. These included requiring manufacturers and dispensaries to use child-resistant packaging and banning the sale of cannabis products in the form of gummy worms and bears. 

A key player in getting Prop 207 passed was Ninth Circuit Court Judge Roopali Desai, nominated by President Joe Biden to the court last year.

Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.