As the cannabis industry explodes across the United States, one university in Michigan is now offering a scholarship to study cannabis chemistry.
Lake Superior State University (LSSU) is the first school to offer a scholarship to study chemistry.
On Monday, the school announced Steadfast Labs is establishing an annual $1,200 scholarship for students pursuing their degree in cannabis chemistry.
‘We are very excited about this latest collaboration with Steadfast Labs,’ said Dr. Steven Johnson, who serves as the Dean of the College of Science and the Environment at LSSU.
A university in Michigan is now offering a scholarship for studies in their cannabis chemistry program. Pictured: A student works at the Cannabis Center of Excellence at LSSU
Lake Superior State University became the first school in the country to offer a program in cannabis chemistry when they established their program in 2019
‘This donation not only continues our trendsetting ways in this vital new field but also makes our already affordable tuition even more reasonable.’
‘It is our great pleasure to grant this unprecedented scholarship for a cutting-edge program in an innovative industry,’ said Steadfast Labs CEO Avram Zallen.
Those who apply for the scholarship need to be at least sophomores with a GPA of 3.0 or higher.
Preference will be given to those who reside in Wayne County or Oakland County, which is where Steadfast Labs operates.
This is the second time LSSU has made history with their cannabis chemistry program, as it was also the first one established in the nation in 2019.
Lake Superior State University will offer a $1,200 annual scholarship to applicants who are at least sophomores at the school with a 3.0 GPA (Pictured: Cannabis Center of Excellence)
Students in the program can either work towards a Bachelor’s Degree or an Associate Degree.
In addition to more typical chemistry classes, students in the cannabis program are offered classes such as Cannabis Chemistry, Cannabis Plant Sample Prep, and Cannabis Separations Chemistry.
The stated goals of the program include to ‘allow students to develop techniques in cannabis extraction and separation’ and ‘build a base of chemistry knowledge with applications in the quantitative analysis of cannabis related compounds and contaminants.’
Some of the jobs the program points towards for employment include cannabis extraction manager, field application scientist, and laboratory technician.
Pictured: Greenhouse of Walled Lake, a popular cannabis shop in Michigan
Steadfast Labs, which tests cannabis products for safety purposes, employs a number of analytical chemists.
The new scholarship opportunity comes as cannabis continues to become a bigger part of daily life across the country.
In Michigan, medical marijuana has been legal since 2008. Recreational marijuana was legalized in 2018, with the first dispensaries opening in the state in December 2019.
New York became the third state this year to legalize marijuana use when the bill was signed on March 31.
There are now 17 states where marijuana use has been fully legalized, in addition to Washington D.C. It remains illegal at the federal level, though.
Pictured: Inside of Greenhouse of Walled Lake, a popular cannabis shop. The legal cannabis industry was responsible for $17.5 billion in sales in 2020, a new record
The growing support of legalization across the country has helped turn marijuana into a cash cow.
In 2020, recreational and medical marijuana sales that were legal totaled a record $17.5 billion.
According to the BDSA, the cannabis sales data platform that published the report, the sales were a 46 percent increase from the previous year.
The pandemic may have helped the industry, as well as new markets in states across the country.
Forbes reports that the BDSA is predicting the industry will reach $41 billion in sales by 2026.
Illegal marijuana sales, meanwhile, are still estimated to top over $100 billion on an annual basis.
