If you live in an area with legal medical marijuana and are interested in providing it to patients with conditions like glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, and cancer, you must first navigate a complex maze of local and federal laws and restrictions. The fear of federal raids alone might be enough to put a would-be distributor off the idea completely.
That's where Oaksterdam University comes in. The year-old campus is the United States' only marijuana trade school. Students learn the ins and outs of growing, selling, and using medical marijuana with the greatest possible degree of safety.
Says Oaksterdam President Richard Lee, "People who think they can make a quick buck and get out of paying taxes, they go to jail."
Students learn to "think like a lawyer, act like a drug dealer," from instructors including criminal defense lawyer Omar Figueroa. Dispensary owners must not only learn to run a successful business, but also to avoid prosecution under federal or local law for an activity legal under state law. Work-arounds taught in order to increase the level of safety of distributors include transporting marijuana by bicycle rather than car, in order to avoid a quagmire of unclear laws regarding the transportation of cannabis.
Also among Figueroa's tips for Oaksterdam students:
*Don't hire a felon to work in your dispensary, because the feds may pressure him or her to become a snitch.
*Though
an armed guard may be a tempting way to ward off robberies, a firearm
turns marijuana sales into a more serious crime under federal law.
*Keep marijuana far out of reach of children.
What do you think? Is Oaksterdam serving legal business owners and providing valuable help, or is the trade school enabling criminals? Should schools like Oaksterdam be regulated by laws specific to medical marijuana trade schools?
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