Cannabis Business Certificate

Students will learn about and engage in course activities related to the history of cannabis and the rapidly developing trends in cannabis business, laws, regulations, and ethics. In particular, students will examine emerging practices, concepts, and issues in the cannabis industry relating to regulatory framework, illicit cannabis market, operating in cash, taxation, quality of human resources, and social justice and equity.

Students will learn about and engage in course activities related to the history of cannabis and the rapidly developing trends in cannabis business, laws, regulations, and ethics. In particular, students will examine emerging practices, concepts, and issues in the cannabis industry relating to regulatory framework, illicit cannabis market, operating in cash, taxation, quality of human resources, and social justice and equity.

In this course, we will explore the industrial hemp agricultural and manufacturing industry by focusing on the materials, processes, products, and economics in the industrial hemp supply chain. Specifically, we will examine the:  Agricultural processes used in growing industrial hemp plants; Material science of the hemp plant as an industrial raw material; Engineering processes needed to transform hemp biomass into new material forms; Products and markets that utilize hemp-derived materials; Business models and supply chains used by industrial hemp businesses; Sustainability in the hemp industry at a holistic, systems level (technically, environmentally, economically, and socially;) Supporting infrastructure necessary to sustain a growing industrial hemp industry. 

In this course students fully explore how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value through a customer-centric approach to business model innovation. The impact of industry disruption through business model innovation will be explored as students analyze and evaluate existing models. Using creative thinking and specific patterns, students will gain experience in planning and executing new models to address the complex challenges facing businesses from a variety of industries in the marketplace today.

The main focus of this course will be on quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) in the cannabis testing laboratory. The course will explain the different tests performed on cannabis (e.g. potency/cannabinoid concentration, terpenes, etc.), best practices, method development and validation, laboratory accreditation, and how to build and implement a good quality management program.